The PastryArchy Edition #13: Chocolate Dipped Pretzel
DuClaw Brewing Co.

My college buddy brought a tall boy can of this beer to share at a House Party for the OSU vs ORE game.....which OSU lost by a point. It poured an opaque dark with no head and no lace. The scent and taste had dark chocolate, pretzel, and salted caramel presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer!

 

No date on this 16 oz can
BomB! snifter

Dark creamy black with a very tall bubbly brown head that leaves lace as it recedes from taking up half the glass.

Aroma is decidedly chocolate, but not really like fudge or anything. It's more of a semi-sweet chocolate. Nothing else really.

Flavor is bitter roasted malt and an overabundance of moderately sweet chocolate. Tastes muddy. I get a little salt on the back half, but it's not blended, it's as if I took a few grains of salt and put them on my tongue once I swallowed the beer. This isn't winning any points so far.

Feel is very creamy, mild to moderate carbonation, a little alcohol heat, and a little roasted dryness.

Overall, an uninspiring turd from DuClaw. Would not revisit.

Price paid : $4.99 / can

 

 

Poured hard from a tall can into a snifter glass, forming a finger or two of tan head that slowly faded to heavy lacing with serious legs. Smell is actually close, chocolatey pretzel with a bit of saltiness. Taste is a mixture of chocolate and saltiness, not too much breadiness. Moderately sweet. Light to medium bodied with light carbonation, and a bit of salty bite. Overall, pretty close to the name and tasty.

From the tall boy can in a snifter. This solid little brew
pours a dark coal black with a fantastic head of brown foam
that settles to a thick ring, thick layer, and sports excellent
lacing. Nose of caramel, cocoa, pretzel, slight salinity, and
subtle char. Flavors follow but exceed by presentation with
dark chocolate, caramel, salt, pretzel notes, char, and light cream.
Nice mouth feel; full body, smooth, lightly coating, light
carbonation that is subtly prickly, and a deep roasted finish.

Overall, a solid little brew

Cheers

L: jet black, tan head, little lacing
S: hints of chocolate
T: roasty, bakers chocolate, no salt, no pretzel
F: full bodied, nice mouthfeel
O: nice job, let it warm up

 

 

Poured on tap nearly black with almost a finger of beige foam that didn’t fully dissipate. Aroma has notes of yeasty bread malts, chocolate, vanilla. The taste is a base stout dominated by an unusual, almost dough flavor that I assume is meant to represent the pretzel. The chocolate is present, but more cocoa than milk chocolate on a dipped pretzel. Mouthfeel is creamy with lots of carbonation. Overall it is good but I prefer Sweet Baby Jesus.

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a half finger high dark tan head that died down but never completely faded away.
S: Moderate aromas of salty chocolate are present in the nose.
T: The taste has flavors of cocoa along with notes of salt and hints of vanilla beans.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied, smooth and rather "fluffy" on the palate with a moderate to high amount of carbonation.
O: This stout really smells and tastes like a chocolate dipped pretzel as it has both the chocolate and salt. The saltiness makes this more of a savory beer than a dessert stout as the salt seems to mask any sweetness that might be contributed by the underlying cocoa nibs.

Serving type: can

16 ounce can, no canning date but I think this was released a month or 2 ago. Thanks to Brutaltruth for this one! Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with almost an inch tan head. Head retention and lacing are both good. I like the aroma, the brew smells like cocoa, salt, bready/grainy malt and vanilla. Taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some roasted malt and toffee flavors noticeable too. Not as sweet tasting as I expected, but that's not a complaint. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's easy to drink and a bit creamy with a good amount of carbonation. I liked this, it does remind me of a chocolate covered pretzel but maybe with more dark than milk chocolate. Worth a try for sure!

beer infused with chocolale and salt- very smooth the pastry flavor are not overpowering

 

Quite amazed by this beer can emulates everything you want with a pretzel sourdough notes, a nice twang of saltiness, and did I forget that this beer has nice chocolate tones? Quite an exceptional imperial Stout with slight pretzel notes. I approve!

 

Appearance:
Black as sin and twice as tempting. It’s like pouring a pocket of deep space into your glass. This fathomless void produces a beige carpet of flawless, ultrafine foam.

Bouquet:
A serenade of silky, dark chocolates with a subtle backdrop of cold, crushed vanilla beans. Concludes with a distant afterthought of rich, malted milk chocolate.

Feel:
A luscious, pillowy stout. Full bodied, ample, and sensuous as rose petals. Its carbonation is a sleek, murmuring undercurrent that just barely glances the tongue.

Taste:
Chewy, wheat malts beneath a semi-frequent bite of coarse, tangy salt. This emulates a pretzel’s baked dough and big chunks kosher salt astonishingly well. The ensemble is given a hearty dunk in the deepest, darkest vat of cocoa.

Absolutely fantastic head production. Excellent retention and lacing. Little to fault or improve here.

Very nice roasty nose. It doesn't so much evoke the thought of a chocolate dipped salted pretzel as it does those flavors added to a solid imperial stout base. Toffee, caramel, molasses, light char, toast, salt, chocolate, cola.

Similar presentation on the palate. Much thicker than previous entries in the series; this actually feels like an imperial stout, thick and smooth. Flavor is smoothly roasty, featuring toast, salt, chocolate, chewy salted caramel, tobacco, and plenty of dark malt.

The PastryArchy series has consistently disappointed me with high promise and low delivery, especially in the mouthfeel department, with almost every entry coming across thin. Of all the ones I've tried, this is easily the best across the board. It's a legitimately excellent beer.