Why We Picked It: This one peaked Jeremy's attention and is a nice twist on DuClaws popular Sweet Baby Jesus.
What DuClaw Says About It: Our single bestselling beer of all time, Sweet Baby Jesus! Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter, Hop Gunned with cold-steeped, whole bean espresso to infuse it’s iconic, lightly sweet chocolate and peanut butter flavor and aroma with warm notes of coffee… without any additional bitterness! One sip of Sweet Baby Java and you’ll wonder, “Where has this bean all my life?”
Style: Porter - Coffee
ABV: 6.2%
IBU: 53
Website: https://duclaw.com/
To Better Know A Brewery: From the time he set foot on a college campus, Dave Benfield was expected to go into the family business as an electrical contractor. But rather than learning the business in his free time, Dave was spending his waking hours homebrewing, drinking his homebrew, and sharing the amazing liquid with others. One day, his father said to him, you’re going to be a brewer, aren’t you?
DuClaw brewery was born when our founder, Dave Benfield, followed his passion and started brewpubs in Maryland. Later, he transitioned the focus of the brewery towards a bottling and canning business so he could get more DuClaw to more people. Always cherishing the craft, never following the obvious path. Craft Be Cherished. Rules Be Damned.
WoW, after all my bitching about these coffee, chocolate flavored Stouts/Porters and how it's "not my thing, these suck", this one isn't all that bad and it's a DuClaw on top of it (the weakest of the weak breweries that are everywhere, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it).
ReplyDeleteSo this actually tasted like chocolate and espresso. The peanut butter was very VERY faint to me and it was on top of a tasty porter. I still do not like these kind of wannabe beers, but I actually drank the whole thing with minimal whining.
Thank you 24DOB, I'll never drink this intentionally again, but you provided a great experience... and for that, I salute you.
Not bad at all - and fitting as it is Porter weather. Tasted the peanut butter and coffee more than the chocolate. Usually underwhelmed by DuClaw but this is probably my favorite beer I've had from them.
ReplyDeleteThis one has more of a bite than Sweet Baby Jesus and isn’t as sweet, so I actually like it better ( even though I overrated SBJesus on Untappd). I will say I’m skeptical about beer with peanut butter flavor - I like the taste in general but you don’t get the same texture in beer form so it’s definitely missing something.
ReplyDeleteI have had this a few times in the sampler during dinner at their restaurant at Arundel Mills (I assume its still there, I cant stand malls and have not been since the day the casino opened and we happened to go to that mall by chance that day...it was a mad house).
ReplyDeleteThat said, this is by far the best version of these chocolate espresso beers I have had. As Theodore said, it actually tastes like those things. I always get an after taste of light little robusto cigars. I dont smoke cigars but my dad and all his friends do.
I grew up within walking distance of 2 of the largest cigar suppliers in the US in Famous Cigars and Cigar International warehouses (just a short walk through a few corn fields). So my dad and his friends always had absurdly expensive cigars they got on super discount growing up.
Every year since I was 7 we spend a week fishing in Canada in cousins and dad's friends (we have only ever missed 2 years, the year my twins were born as they were JUST born and this year as the border closed). Even the year I was getting chemo treatment for hodgkins we made the trip up between 2 of my treatments (my mom was livid, he woke me up early and we left before she even knew, it was so exciting and a break from the hospital filled life I was living on/off). A large part of this trip (besides drinking and fishing) is all the others bringing/sharing/discussing cigars. While I dont smoke cigars (maybe I will smoke 1 the entire trip...MAYBE) I still have become accustomed to enjoying the smells, colors, and smoke profiles of the different cigars. I am also a very inquisitive person so I will ask someone oddly in-depth questions about why they like something, why they didn't like the other one, especially if its a topic I dont know a lot about (or in this case enjoy).
This beer brought me right back to those trips and the smell of their cigars and really made me miss not being able to do that this year even more. It hurt even more not being able to go this year as this was the first year I was going to bring my boys up (they are now 7) and start this tradition with them as well.
I actually called my dad tonight and just spoke to him for about 45 minutes and reminisced about past trips, things we want to do next year when my boys can go, it was really nice.
This beer, 3.5/5 ... calling the old man to talk about inside jokes of years past 5/5.
Ah shit Adam. I wasn't ready to get emotional in a 24DOB blog.
DeleteThanks for sharing that, touched a chord and while nothing similar in my life, it did bring back great memories of family, friends, life.
Just wanted to acknowledge your sharing of feelings and my appreciation of you doing so.
Just wanted to note this really exceptional post. Thank you for sharing.
DeleteI love when tastes/aromas trigger memories. It is often beer for me.
DeleteI've been mulling book made up of 24DOB posts because of posts like these.
Thanks for the great feedback everyone. During all this social isolation its great to have something a "basic" as a beer bring back great memories of pre-covid times.
DeleteWell, this is certainly a novelty beer. But every once in a while you need a novelty beer. And I think the novelty beer concept has grown on me a bit. So this checks all the advertised boxes. Peanut butter. Check. Chocolate. Check. Coffee. Check. Porter. Yes it is. Smells more like peanut butter than it tastes but that was enough to make sure I got the whole beer since sometimes there are times it is good to have a wife who has a peanut allergy. But she wouldn't have stolen my chocolate java porter anyway. But this is a nice porter. I'd say we should see how they made a generic porter, but my guess, based on my past experience with Duclaw is that they are probably using the peanut butter, chocolate, and coffee to mask the mediocre porter underneath. Works for me! I'd have one from time to time but that would be plenty. So a good beer to have for the 24 days of beer. 3.5 out of 5 drunken Reese's dropped in coffee.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite of this year's dark beers. #1 - I picked it.
ReplyDelete#2 - see #1.
I love peanut butter (and peanut butter and chocolate), but I am not detecting the peanut butter, so a little let down by DuClaw's description in that regard. But, I think this is one of the more interesting beers we have had thus far. If this were a blind taste test and you asked me if this was an iced coffee or a beer, I am not sure what I would say.
ReplyDeleteI actually have become a much bigger fan of DuClaw over the last few years. I think Mad Bishop (Octoberfest) is fantastic, their pumpkin beer "31" is great, and they have a Key Lime Pie Beer that is one of the best sours (sort of) I think I have ever had. But, just not digging this one very much. 2.00/5.00 "something's that I just can't put my finger on" from me.
Once again, I feel like I should hate this based on it's profile and my general boss again DuClaw, but it's actually OK.
ReplyDeleteI wishes I got more peanut butter and less chocolate, but the espresso bean is the dominant flavor for me which work well. I give it 2.75 out of 5 Jiffy Peanut Butters.
Greg -- So, I agree with Bill's labeling this as a "novelty beer." A curiosity. Something to see in a traveling carnival, despite its obvious lineage to Duclaw's other variations in the same line. It was an easy "Meh" rating for me in the poll. The advertised flavors were each detectable, and the porter itself was not bad or offensive, but I just didn't love the complete package. I'd sooner grab one of yesterday's chocolate stouts from Brooklyn than this thing. Still, I am grateful to have had the chance to taste one without committing to buying six at a time.
ReplyDeleteI'm 2 days behind in comments, so before we take a short break from the porters, I'll briefly say that I liked this one better than the previous day's Black Chocolate Stout. The hint of peanut butter was a nice addition and the absence of the high-alcohol taste was a good subtraction. Now, onto today's beer...
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this beer. I couldn't really taste the peanut butter and didn't realize it was there until my wife looked at the label after I had already finished it. Which is kind of funny because I have eyed this beer at the store in the past but could never get myself to buy a six pack as I was scared of being overwhelmed by peanut butter. So thanks 24DOB for getting it for me.
ReplyDeleteHmmm ... I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I like that it is fun and novel. I like that the espresso flavor tones down the sweetness of its predecessor. But it really isn't that good of a beer. The flavors are a bit all over the place and peanut butter doesn't really go with it. But I'll drink it and smile because it is worth a try.
ReplyDeleteI find this to be a nice balance between all the flavors listed on the side of the can. I feel like I should have had it earlier in the day though because I think the espresso part kept me up at night
ReplyDeleteSix days in and I still haven't mustered the courage to open this one...
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ReplyDelete