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Devil's Due
DuClaw Brewing Company
- From:
- DuClaw Brewing Company
- Maryland, United States
- Style:
- American Strong Ale
- ABV:
- 11%
- Score:
- 91
- Avg:
- 4.08 | pDev: 7.6%
- Reviews:
- 24
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Dec 03, 2023
- Added:
- Dec 09, 2014
- Wants:
- 10
- Gots:
- 37
The perfect balance of Retribution Imperial Stout and Devil’s Milk Barleywine, Devil’s Due is black, full-bodied, and smoothly drinkable. Its seductive swirl of dark chocolate, coffee, smoky malt, and citrus fruit flavors, infused with notes of charred oak, vanilla and caramelized sugar, disguises a strong, warming alcohol presence (11% abv) that reminds those who dance with the Devil that eventually, a price will be paid.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Jeffreysan:
Reviewed by Jeffreysan from Virginia
4.8/5 rDev +17.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
4.8/5 rDev +17.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
12 oz bottle, poured into a goblet
Appearance: Pours a beautiful, completely opaque, pitch-black color with a quarter of a finger of caramel-colored head that quickly dissolved away into a thin lacing of foam that completely covered the top of the beer.
Aroma: Wow! Very aromatic, with lots of toasted malt up front, followed with lots of dried stone fruit, such as raisins, prunes, apricots, and lots of brown sugar and oak, dark chocolate, and a touch of vanilla. Very complex, inviting and delicious!
Taste: Exactly the same as the aroma! Lots of toasted malt up front, followed with lots of dried stone fruit, such as raisins, prunes, apricots, and lots of brown sugar and toffee-like sweetness, oak, dark chocolate, and a touch of vanilla. Very complex, inviting and delicious! I’m amazed at how well the two beers, a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine and a bourbon barrel-aged stout, meld without clashing. Rather they are very complementary to each other. Really, really, delicious!
Mouthfeel: Slightly chewy and extremely smooth as there is no carbonation, what-so-ever. With an ABV of 11%, there is a very pleasant alcohol warmth on the palate.
Overall: This is an excellent, excellent beer by DuClaw! Combining two of my favorite beers from them into one spectacular beer is a brilliant idea and one that pay off in a delicious quaff! I’m certainly getting a few more sixers of this to age and see how it matures. That being said, its’ spectacular fresh! Highly recommended!
Jun 12, 2015Appearance: Pours a beautiful, completely opaque, pitch-black color with a quarter of a finger of caramel-colored head that quickly dissolved away into a thin lacing of foam that completely covered the top of the beer.
Aroma: Wow! Very aromatic, with lots of toasted malt up front, followed with lots of dried stone fruit, such as raisins, prunes, apricots, and lots of brown sugar and oak, dark chocolate, and a touch of vanilla. Very complex, inviting and delicious!
Taste: Exactly the same as the aroma! Lots of toasted malt up front, followed with lots of dried stone fruit, such as raisins, prunes, apricots, and lots of brown sugar and toffee-like sweetness, oak, dark chocolate, and a touch of vanilla. Very complex, inviting and delicious! I’m amazed at how well the two beers, a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine and a bourbon barrel-aged stout, meld without clashing. Rather they are very complementary to each other. Really, really, delicious!
Mouthfeel: Slightly chewy and extremely smooth as there is no carbonation, what-so-ever. With an ABV of 11%, there is a very pleasant alcohol warmth on the palate.
Overall: This is an excellent, excellent beer by DuClaw! Combining two of my favorite beers from them into one spectacular beer is a brilliant idea and one that pay off in a delicious quaff! I’m certainly getting a few more sixers of this to age and see how it matures. That being said, its’ spectacular fresh! Highly recommended!
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by hoptheology from California
3.76/5 rDev -7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
3.76/5 rDev -7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Got a 12 oz can, dated 10/31/18, and poured into a Carpe Brew Em snifter.
Pours a bit garnet from the can but forms a dark black body with a creamy beige half finger of head, stable.
Aroma seems to bring a wonderful mix of half and half stout and barleywine - which ends up being a whole lot of apricot and pomegranate strangely enough. The whiskey barrel is there, hints of what I'd call red or garnet malt, some ethanol, and some piney hops manage to poke through and tickle the nose hairs.
Flavor comes off tasting very clay-like. There's flavors swirling but just like the nose, it seems to boil down to a singular, focused flavor. Leading up to the clay, I get some herbal cough drops, dried fig, grass, a little bit of caramel, mineral, piney hop (which builds on the palate the more it is sipped), a bit of oak, and then finally, it just equals clay.
Feel is hot and burning with lots of resins building, a good bit of carbonation and then creaminess, and then drying heat on the finish with lots and lots of resins.
Overall, a lackluster beer that seems to incorporate the worst elements of their Devil's Milk and their flagship stout. I'm glad to get this one out of the rotation.
Price paid : $5.99 / can
Would buy again : Nope
Aug 01, 2020Pours a bit garnet from the can but forms a dark black body with a creamy beige half finger of head, stable.
Aroma seems to bring a wonderful mix of half and half stout and barleywine - which ends up being a whole lot of apricot and pomegranate strangely enough. The whiskey barrel is there, hints of what I'd call red or garnet malt, some ethanol, and some piney hops manage to poke through and tickle the nose hairs.
Flavor comes off tasting very clay-like. There's flavors swirling but just like the nose, it seems to boil down to a singular, focused flavor. Leading up to the clay, I get some herbal cough drops, dried fig, grass, a little bit of caramel, mineral, piney hop (which builds on the palate the more it is sipped), a bit of oak, and then finally, it just equals clay.
Feel is hot and burning with lots of resins building, a good bit of carbonation and then creaminess, and then drying heat on the finish with lots and lots of resins.
Overall, a lackluster beer that seems to incorporate the worst elements of their Devil's Milk and their flagship stout. I'm glad to get this one out of the rotation.
Price paid : $5.99 / can
Would buy again : Nope
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania
4.67/5 rDev +14.5%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 4.5
4.67/5 rDev +14.5%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 4.5
As I continue to winnow through the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody, I am finding beers that I do not even remember purchasing! In fact, I have so many DuClaw beers hanging around that I am embarking on a horizontal tasting for the next few days. This should be interesting.
From the bottle: "This blend of Retribution Imperial Stout & Devil’s Milk Barleywine-Style Ale will claim your soul with a mix of chocolate, coffee, smoky malt & notes of charred oak, vanilla, & caramelized sugar. The Milkman cometh, so pop the top and ... settle your debt!"; "Respect_the_Fluid".
Yeah, I'm getting into the big boys as this horizontal begins to wind down. The bottling date is 12/08/14, making it just over two years old. I helped it to celebrate its near-birthday with a Pop! of the cap, followed by a gentle pour. An in-glass swirl raised a finger of foamy, dark-brown head with decent retention. Nose smelled so strongly of smoke that I began to worry that the fire alarm might activate. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Warming, the nose began to give off scents of dried, dark fruits; leather; heavy smoke & a woodiness that was simply amazing. Mouthfeel was medium and I frankly expected more body in such a beer. The taste was ... what is the opposite of miraculous? A miracle would be evocative of Heaven, while this was meant to evoke Hell. It would be like trying to equate Angel's Food Cake with Devil's Food Cake. Totally opposite ends of the spectrum. The taste was truly dark and dense with an amalgam of flavors and tastes that made me think of a Brueghel painting. It tasted like an unholy orgy, involving forked tails, protruding tongues and more sins than have been enumerated to date. Where to start? Coffee; chocolate; leather; dark, dried fruits; smoke; wood and caramel all made an appearance. OMFG! Oops. This is of the Devil, so no invoking of his counterpart. Well, be that as it may, this was mighty tasty! Finish was dry, more as a result of so many things going on at once, accompanied by a mild heat. I think that this is a good point to put on the brakes & hit the rack.
Tomorrow ... the grand finale to this horizontal! It has been an interesting run, but other breweries await their chance at me.
Jan 10, 2017From the bottle: "This blend of Retribution Imperial Stout & Devil’s Milk Barleywine-Style Ale will claim your soul with a mix of chocolate, coffee, smoky malt & notes of charred oak, vanilla, & caramelized sugar. The Milkman cometh, so pop the top and ... settle your debt!"; "Respect_the_Fluid".
Yeah, I'm getting into the big boys as this horizontal begins to wind down. The bottling date is 12/08/14, making it just over two years old. I helped it to celebrate its near-birthday with a Pop! of the cap, followed by a gentle pour. An in-glass swirl raised a finger of foamy, dark-brown head with decent retention. Nose smelled so strongly of smoke that I began to worry that the fire alarm might activate. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Warming, the nose began to give off scents of dried, dark fruits; leather; heavy smoke & a woodiness that was simply amazing. Mouthfeel was medium and I frankly expected more body in such a beer. The taste was ... what is the opposite of miraculous? A miracle would be evocative of Heaven, while this was meant to evoke Hell. It would be like trying to equate Angel's Food Cake with Devil's Food Cake. Totally opposite ends of the spectrum. The taste was truly dark and dense with an amalgam of flavors and tastes that made me think of a Brueghel painting. It tasted like an unholy orgy, involving forked tails, protruding tongues and more sins than have been enumerated to date. Where to start? Coffee; chocolate; leather; dark, dried fruits; smoke; wood and caramel all made an appearance. OMFG! Oops. This is of the Devil, so no invoking of his counterpart. Well, be that as it may, this was mighty tasty! Finish was dry, more as a result of so many things going on at once, accompanied by a mild heat. I think that this is a good point to put on the brakes & hit the rack.
Tomorrow ... the grand finale to this horizontal! It has been an interesting run, but other breweries await their chance at me.
Reviewed by dbl_delta from Pennsylvania
4.4/5 rDev +7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.4/5 rDev +7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Bottle dated 12/08/14 (and cellared for almost two years) into pint glass. Pours a very dark ruby brown with a modest tan head. Initial impression is reminiscent of dark chocolate pudding, with notes of caramel, bourbon, vanilla, brown sugar, and dark fruits. Very complex. Very smooth. Very drinkable. Alcohol is not at all evident in the taste, but makes its warming presence known after the fact. Retired? That is really too bad!
Oct 27, 2016Reviewed by brentk56 from North Carolina
4.39/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.39/5 rDev +7.6%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Appearance: Pours quite dark, like espresso, with a rocky beige head; impressive lacing and legging
Smell: Chocolate fudge, caramel, pine, vanilla and dark fruit, all ensconced in Bourbon
Taste: The Bourbon, chocolate fudge, vanilla and caramel flavors swirl together, on the front end, with the pine and dark fruit (raisin and fig) building through the middle; after the swallow, the piney bitterness builds a bit but the mellow flavors from the stout bring up the rear; nougaty and slightly smoky in the aftertaste
Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation; some warmth in the gullet
Overall: Tremendous complexity accrues from the interplay between the barleywine and the stout; the flavors keep swinging back and forth
Thanks, Shaler_Tate, for the opportunity
Mar 08, 2016Smell: Chocolate fudge, caramel, pine, vanilla and dark fruit, all ensconced in Bourbon
Taste: The Bourbon, chocolate fudge, vanilla and caramel flavors swirl together, on the front end, with the pine and dark fruit (raisin and fig) building through the middle; after the swallow, the piney bitterness builds a bit but the mellow flavors from the stout bring up the rear; nougaty and slightly smoky in the aftertaste
Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation; some warmth in the gullet
Overall: Tremendous complexity accrues from the interplay between the barleywine and the stout; the flavors keep swinging back and forth
Thanks, Shaler_Tate, for the opportunity
Reviewed by BullDoza from Texas
4.05/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.05/5 rDev -0.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
A: Pours dark, translucent brown. Settles very dark. Black. Deep brown on the edges. Little to no head. More a light khaki colored film or ring.
N: Bourbon. Plenty bourbon straight away. Vanilla and chocolate. Caramel - like burnt sugar. Also, a mushroom like earthiness; there's the barrel. There is a lot going on here, and I like it.
T: Chocolate and a little vanilla sweetness up front. The barrel is there in the form of bourbon-y heat. The taste is where the barleywine character comes in to play. Tons of dark fruits. Black cherry and raisin. The barleywine used has to be an American, because there is definitely a hop presence apparent in the bitter on the back of the palate. Good, but I do wish there was more of what the nose brought.
F: On the lighter side of medium. Thinner than I prefer my BA stouts, but not offensive.
O: Stout on the nose. More barleywine on the taste with the dark fruits and bitterness provided by the hops. Definitely unique, and a pretty successful blend of, what the bottle says, is two beers: an imperial stout and a barleywine.
Nov 13, 2015N: Bourbon. Plenty bourbon straight away. Vanilla and chocolate. Caramel - like burnt sugar. Also, a mushroom like earthiness; there's the barrel. There is a lot going on here, and I like it.
T: Chocolate and a little vanilla sweetness up front. The barrel is there in the form of bourbon-y heat. The taste is where the barleywine character comes in to play. Tons of dark fruits. Black cherry and raisin. The barleywine used has to be an American, because there is definitely a hop presence apparent in the bitter on the back of the palate. Good, but I do wish there was more of what the nose brought.
F: On the lighter side of medium. Thinner than I prefer my BA stouts, but not offensive.
O: Stout on the nose. More barleywine on the taste with the dark fruits and bitterness provided by the hops. Definitely unique, and a pretty successful blend of, what the bottle says, is two beers: an imperial stout and a barleywine.
Devil's Due from DuClaw Brewing Company
Beer rating:
91 out of
100 with
142 ratings
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