I’m about to post old reviews and one I just had last night, DuClaw’s Cocoa Fuego, an interesting Chocolate Chipotle stout.
03/04/2014
DuClaw Cocoa Fuego 7.5%
Pours dark, strong malty smell, not much pepper on the nose.
It tastes like a chocolate stout and finishes slightly spicy. There’s very little chipotle/pepper taste. It’s sweet and malty and chocolatey and leaves a spicy finish. Not bad overall, but a better example of this was Left Hand Brewing’s Fade To Black pepper porter.
1. hops – 2 Nose, balance out the chocolate, the sweetness, the malts. But just barely.
2. malts – 7 Yup. I’m not sure if they’re overpowered by the chocolate or overwhelmed by the spicy finish though.
3. carbonation – 4.5 not very bubbly
4. character – 6.5 There’s things here, malty sweetness, chocolate taste, spicyness but nothing stands out. Certainly not the pepper.
5. Palate – 7.5 It works well, but nothing is jumping out at you. It’s sweet, it’s slightly coffee, it has chocolate, but not like in a robust chocolate stout, and it’s spicy but only just so on the finish.
Overall – 7 If you want to try a decent spicy stout and this is available, go for it. It’s not the best in class but there’s nothing here that will turn anyone off. It will leave you wanting, however.
A clarification on character and palate: character would be what’s IN the beer, palate is how it all works together. This had very little chocolate OR chipotle, but it didn’t suck at all, hence the higher palate score.