DuClaw Brewing Co.
Abingdon, MD
This medium-full bodied robust porter has the aroma and flavor of roasted malt and cocoa accented by underlying notes of rye and coffee. Real chocolate enhances the flavor profile with a slick, velvety mouthfeel and crisp, bittersweet finish.
ABV: 7.7
ABW: 6.16
COLOR: N/A
BITTERNESS: 60
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1079
AVAILABLE: DC, MD, VA
This beer is a mouthful—both to say and to drink. Pours inky black with a khaki head. The spiciness of the rye hits your nose before the bourbon barrel characteristics show up—vanilla and chocolate, with hints of cherries and other dark fruit. The first sip is rich—both in flavor and in the mouth. Velvety smooth and thick, with the rye sneaking in as a spicy undercurrent to a river of flavors that flow from charred oak to vanilla and from bourbon to chocolate. This is one to savor, slowly, as it is quite mercurial as it warms up.
Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter? Wow. That’s a lot to pack in. Skillfully, DuClaw manages to do just that, concocting a richly satisfying, nourishing, heart-warming beer that really hits the spot. Everything about the aroma is welcoming, from the dark chocolate to the bourbon, via hints of coconut from the oak. On the tongue, it’s supremely silky, loaded with bourbon, chocolate, espresso and hazelnut flavors but somehow managing to avoid being cloying. Bourbon in the finish is always evident but not excessive. Perhaps it’s a little bit boozy for me, but this is a very enjoyable beer.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. More of his writing can be found at www.insidebeer.com.
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