DuClaw Black Jack Stout
Released for the winter season, this hearty stout starts off with an espresso aroma, followed by a smooth roasted malt flavor. We age this beer for over 2 months to allow the alcohol to mellow and the flavors to balance. Despite the beers alcohol content (8.0%) and intense flavor, this beer remains smooth and very drinkable.
3.8
185 reviews
Baltimore, United States
Community reviews
22 oz bottle served in a pint glass. Pour is deep cola with two fingers of beige head on top; this pour also featured decent lacing and excellent retention. Nose is java, licorice, basement, must, malt, and raisons. Taste is big licorice and java up front, which is then joined by a boisterously carbonated basement/raison that blends into the finish. This is easy to drink, and not a bad brew, but I am not a huge licorice fan and this brew amps that aspect up. Still, it is worth the time.
Pours pitch black with huge tan head and tons of lacing. Aromas of chocolate, coffee, burnt toast, and alcohol. Taste is sweet with some bitterness on the back end. Palate is full bodied, smooth and a bit creamy. Overall, a nice tasting stout, but nothing that wows me. Its good, for sure, and nicely done.
Pours black with a nice head, light brown and creamy. The aroma is a tad weak, but what’s there is nice. There’s dark chocolate, caramel, roast and some mild dark malt fruitiness. The beer has a big, excellent flavor once it hits your tongue. It’s full of dark chocolate syrup and roast with a citrus hop note in the finish. The beer is smooth and has a wonderful classic imperial stout flavor. Everything meshes together nicely and there’s little booze. No real rough edges to be found, either. Sweetness is just right. Smooth and creamy, the beer is thick on the palate.
Bottle. Pours black with a small brown head that left sticky lacing. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate and coffee. Flavor was smooth and creamy with chocolate, roasted coffee, light molasses, roasted malts, and a touch of caramel with a dry roasted finish. A decent stout
Thick, black, huge tan head, sustained, lacing, lacing, retention... creamy roasty aroma, fruity... flavor matches aroma to a T, creamy, roasty , fruity... medium to medium full body... semi sweet...
Pours black with a medium mocha head. Aroma has bitter bakers chocolate, anise, maybe a bit of peat? Flavor has dark fruit up front...sweet at first..and gets very roasty with a hint of espresso. Mouthfeel is medium with a dry lingering roasted almost burnt finish...slightly winey.
Bottle from the brackets pool, can’t remember who. Thanks a ton. Black pour with a small beige head. Aroma was big time cocoa and roast. Lots of chocolate. Flavors were equally chocolate heavy, just a bit of roast and a lingering bitterness rounded it out. Mouthfeel was actually quite legit given the rather low ABV for the style. Smooth a creamy with ample carbonation. A bit lively. Pretty good, now back to a Jai Alai.
Bottle. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty chocolate aroma. Roasted malty chocolate and licorice flavor. Has a roasted malty chocolate finish.
4 oz pour at the Bowie location on 7/22/11. deep black pour with a small tan head. roast nose with coffee and chocolate. medium body - very smooth and silky. Chocolate, coffee, vanilla, roasted malts. Mint finish with chocolate malts.
So they aged it for 2 months and I put another 18 on it...was really quite smooth and sweet and a great after dinner sipper, especially when it warmed up. Pours dark with coffee head, thick but not overly so. Smell is dominated by sugar and chocolate and that continues through the palate. Finish is long but not super long, and there’s little to know hops or carbonation at all. Consider me pleasantly surprised.
Draught: Poured a black color with brown head. Aroma was coffee intertwined with chocolate. The taste is hoppy up front that leads to chocolate and light coffee bean finish.
Sweet roasty chocolate coffee, toffee, bitter cocoa dark chococolate finish. Milky and creamy and like a rich chocolate fondue. Mildly chewy body. A little cherry note. Not the best RIS i’ve had, but definitely not the worst. this one lies somewhere in the middles
Pours dark with a light tan head. Aroma is chocolate, roasted malts and dark fruits. Taste is coffee, caramel, malts and molasses. Medium bodied with light carbonation. Pretty good imperial stout.
In short: A very complex stout that really stands out from this over-crowded genre. Excellent
How: Bottle 22oz, Consumed when probably around 9 months of age. Bottle from a trade on BA. Thanks… someone!
The look: Black body topped by a medium tan head with good retention
In long: Nose is medium roasted, a tiny bit smoky (burning tobacco), chocolate and some dark fruits. Taste is nougat, a shot of espresso, bitter black chocolate, fruity cake, nutty granola bar, tobacco leafs, woody hops. Body feels a bit fluffy and yeasty, like those Belgian stouts that are popping left and right these days. Very nourishing. This is a complex stout that just feels “different” without being weird. Black Jack is the worst game ever since Wh__l Of Fo_tun_.
22 oz. bottle shared by jckp64- thanks again, John! Pours an opaque brown color with a small tan head that leaves spots of lace in the glass. Aroma of roasted malts, plenty of rich chocolate, earth, toast, and a bit of cardboard. Flavor of coffee, roasted malts, dark fruits, tannins, earth, molasses, and caramel. The flavor definitely steps up the complexity of this beer compared to the nose. Medium-full bodied, with a rich, roasty, smooth mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Pretty nice imperial stout.
Coffee and tree bark nose with a chocolate undercurrent. Black with a thick firm brown head with good retention and glass adherence. Horehound and coffee with licorice hints. Full bodied, somewhat thick, mouth filling. Dusty aloe finish, but subdued. Prety neat impy, has character and balance. Hits all its marks with a little oompf.
Thanks to lukin013 for the FFL payout! Nice hefty dark brown pour, with a thick creamy head to it. Nose of smooth chocolate malts with a hint of roasts. Body is a bit on the thin side, and the flavors are also more understated than expected for the style. Hints of molasses and coffee in there, with dominant chocolate. Nothing special but it was enjoyable on its own terms, halfway between a nice sessionable cream stout and a RIS.
22 oz. bottle from Grape & Gourmet. Pours pure black with a creamy beige head. Aroma of licorice and espresso. The flavors are dark chocolate, espresso, licorice, and smoke. There is a slightly bitter taste in the malt roast. The commercial description gets it right when it describes this as "intense flavor" yet "this beer remains smooth and very drinkable". A very good imperial stout overall.
22oz bottle, 2010 edition, from grape & gourmet. pours a dark, cola brown with a thick, creamy, khaki head, solid retention, and light, sticky lacing. aroma is damn nice with bitter, dark chocolate, granola, and heavy, roasted malts with hints of soy, burnt espresso, and topsoil with a touch of nougat. flavor is delicious with heavy char, roasted malts, and toasted nuts backed by smooth, bitter, dark chocolate, fresh espresso, and toffee with a hint of earthy hops adding balance on the back end. palate is on the fuller side of medium bodied with solid carbonation and a dry, roasted, bitter finish. overall, a damn nice imperial stout.
Very good aromas of coffee and chocolate. Flavors follow the aromas. A little thin on the palate. Pretty decent.
On Tap at Du Claw in Bel Air. Great when fresh on tap at the brew pub. Pours an extra black color. Rich chocolate and smoky burnt malts in the nose.Creamy and sweet thick finish full of dark chocolate and coffee. Oily texture with thick lacing. This is a dark beer all beer lovers will enjoy. Can choose between this and the porter as my all time favorites at DuClaw
Shared by Hophead22. Dark pour. Kinda tangy with some dark chocolate notes. Interesting.
22oz bottle. Rating #146. Dark black with a nice tan head. Sweet nose, light molasses and a bit of dark fruit. Kind of a thin body, light roast and a bit astringent, not bad. (1458)
Bottle at 13th Richmond Gathering, courtesy of Butters. Pours black with an average, frothy beige head, medium retention with good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (bread, cookie, chocolate, toasted, nutty), light hops (woody), and light esters (fruity) with notes of prunes and dates. Flavor is heavy malt (bread, cookie, chocolate, roasted, coffee), light hops (spicy), and light esters (fruity) with notes of wood, alcohol, prune, dates, and licorice. Full body, medium warmth and carbonation, and low creaminess with a dry finish.
(Sample Date: 1/15/2011 Source:Butters) Chocolate and roast, clean with some graininess in aroma. Black with small tan head. Roasty with high bitterness and slightly astringent. Medium body and mouth feel. Finish is chocolate with some vanilla lingering and fairly bitter.
Bomber courtesy of Butters. Thanks! Pours a pitch black color with a thin creamy tan head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, tobacco, caramel, leafy hops. The taste is roasted malts, tobacco, leafy hops, coffee, caramel. Very bitter. Full bodied. Nice stout.
Pours a dark black color with a brown head. Smells of coffee. And burnt coffee! Mmmmm. Taste is of coffee and deliciousness. Good stout. Mmm
Courtesy of Ryan. Black with nice beige head, oily lacing. Aroma tad muted. Licorice and coffee, light pine resin. F;avor on par. Licorice, coffee, chocolate, hop bitterness in finsh, resiny. Mouthfeel is perfect, oily but thick and viscous.
Bottle thanks to who brought it to PPSG’10. Black pour with tan head. Aroma full of roasted malt, espresso and chocolate. Rich full flavor, coffee, chocolate and other thoroughly roasty notes. Notes read "very chocolate".
Nearly black with a brown head. Nice milk chocolate aroma with some lactose sweetness and hop bite at the end if the aroma. Chocolate milk flavor with light molasses, roast and a good bitter finish.