Ash Wednesday doesn't necessarily bring beer to mind for many people, but it certainly would for Germany's Paulaner monks. According to the German Beer Institute, those Monks first brewed Dopplebock, a strong malty lager, which they called Salvator. They consumed the beer as “liquid bread” while fasting during Lent. In 2011 a homebrewer and blogger also took on a beer fast. You can read about his experience here.
Ayinger brews a widely available Dopplebock called Celebrator (there are over 200 Dopplebocks with names ending in -ator, following the model of Salvator according to the German Beer Institute). Celebrator pours a very dark brown with a white head. The head doesn't last too long, which probably indicates the high alcohol level. For all that strength, the beer drinks easy. There's not much hot alcohol, the body is relatively light and the flavor is sweet. Up front is a slight taste of chocolate. There's some very slight herbal hops in the finish, but they're mostly drowned out by a roasty, coffee-like flavor. There's some fruit flavor, but it's hard to pin down which fruit exactly. There's also a faint smokey or toasty flavor. For a big beer, this one is very subtle. This is a great brew for the chilly February and March days leading up to Easter.
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