Cocoa Cacao
Dugges Ale- & Porterbryggeri AB

 

 

L- Jet black, not a photon gets through this one, even held up to a halogen bulb. Poured with a 3mm dark tan head that has largely cleared already - no surprise as it's 11.5%, and that high doesn't retain foam at all.
S- Ohhhhhh-mmmmmy... absolute MEGA chocolate. Absolute full-on rich cocoa, one of the cocoa'ist beer I think I have ever encountered. Surely this must have cocoa beans added to it to get the smell so intense... ?
T- Oh wow, it's like a chocolate trifle (cocoa/rich), with a shot of liquor (brandy?) and into a rich creamy (as in dairy cream) + vanilla finish.
F- Deep, pungent, rich, creamy. Absolutely THE beer for slow-sipping with or after Xmas dinner.
O- Nothing more to add overall, this is a beast of winter, what a joy it is. You like dark/black-beer exotics?> Give this a shot. ps I could have rated this higher as a very high impact beer but it's deffo not something I could drink often. It's way too full-on to be versatile. It's much more a special-occasion beer to me...
Bought from: TremblingMadness/York/UK as part of a mixed build-your-own case for home delivery. 330ml bottle £6.99. Damned $, but as a treat ... it's a real treat.
BB: printed in black ink on the black cap (!) is 03/03/2022

08/12/20 bottle @ home

This beer pours a dark black with no head.

I like the flavor of this beer, it’s not overwhelming sweet. It was a little flat, but I’ll definitely look for this beer again. What I like about this beer is that is 11% ABV and you can’t taste the alcohol.

11.2oz bottle poured into a nonic.

A: Pours jet black and viscous, with a dark khaki head that fizzles loudly away.

S: Simply overpowering punch of vanilla, not entirely natural smelling either, strong cloying sweetness, with undertones of coconut and milk chocolate. Lots of marshmallow.

T: Better as it warms up; vanilla bites with sweetness but isn’t overwhelming; Marshmallow fluff and coconut are always there too and the chocolate fades in and out on the finish.

MF: Viscous. Slightly dry finish.

O: Tough to rate; I’m sure lots of pastry stout and vanilla beer lovers would crap themselves on a blind tasting of this one. For me, it was too much and ultimately kept me from finishing more than 6oz.

I had two of these sitting in my aging box and my no-contact beer shopping landed me another bottle from the same batch, so it is drinkable now. In reality, I don't think they need aged much more.

It pours black with a little head. The aroma is scary - nasty, boozy cocoa. The taste is the real deal. Chocolate stout for the serious chocolate and stout lover. The aftertaste is boozy chocolate, and exquisite.

Highly recommended as a chocolate sipper.

PS 11-14-2020 Since I have two bottles, still, and the zombie apocyclypse is still happening, I hit the aging bin again today. This is a real nice treat. Now I only have one left. It's still chocolatey but not nearly so boozy smelly. It was worth the wait. I love having great brews in my aging bin.

 

 

 

 

 

Slow-building head, with about 3/4 of a finger of dark tan foam eventually being produced from a careful pour. Retention is excellent.

Incredibly strong chocolate note on the nose! It really comes across as sweet cocoa accented by vanilla and cream. Brown sugar and coconut are present, and a faint molasses in the background.

Surprisingly a touch sour on the palate, with the chocolate tones leaning more toward bitter cacao (instead of the sweet chocolate on the nose). Coconut likely contributes to the mildly sour note. Chocolate is present up front, allows the malt base, coconut, and vanilla to emerge a bit more in the middle, before returning for the finish.

Building back-end heat. Full bodied; not exactly chewy.

Poured hard from a bottle into a snifter glass, eventually forming a finger of dark tan head. Color is a deep brown, pretty much opaque. Smell is amazing, a strong chocolate smell mixed with something else, possibly coconut but hard to place; not too sweet. Taste is similar, with a strong chocolate flavor, also not too sweet, that is followed by coconut and something else. Body is just shy of thick, with pretty minimal carbonation. Amazing chocolate stout.

 

Seeking out to make a beer so rich that terms like "lavish", "decadent" and "endulgent" just doesn't quite cut it, Dugges teams up with Stillwater brewers for a beer that's a chocolate bar in a glass.

Aptly named Cocoa Cacao, the strongly flavored Imperial Stout pours like chocolate syrup in a viscous and patient settling in the glass. As a rich mocha froth separates from the stout, the nose is awakened by sultry chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch and coconut with a spicy twinge of kaluha for extra measure. An absurdly amount of malt sweetness swirls around molasses, toffee, brown sugar and milk chocolate flavors and a the creaminess of condensed milk.

And those rich malt flavors continue to seep deeply into each and every tastebud for a long and savory middle palate. Those strong complementary flavors of vanilla, butterscotch and coconut takes the mind to butterfingers, then almond joy and caramelo before a gentle coffee and mocha taste introduces a mild mannered bitterness toward the end.

Hints of dark fruit eventually peak through the sweetness while the spice of coffee and chocolate liqueur add a gentle and simmering warmth as the beer finishes long and fat with residual malt sweetness.

 

**
10/05/18

Bottle to sniffer. Flavored Stout Tasting.

Look: dark and thick black. Almost no head fades fast. Zero retention.

Aroma: chocolate, coconut, cherry, raisin, vanilla....like a gooey topping heavy ice cream sundae.

Taste: super sweet. Cherryish flavor is dominating.

Feel: thick and sticky. Not working for me.

This beer needs the coffee from other dugges to round it out. Disappointed.


**