DuClaw Brewing Double Naked Fish

The chocolatey profile of a well-made stout stands strong on its own, but when a brewery mixes things up a little, good things happen.

DuClaw’s Double Naked Fish is the first and only beer I’ve had from the Maryland-based brewery, but it’s a dandy. It’s a souped-up version of regular Naked Fish, a chocolate-raspberry stout. It stands at 84 on Beer Advocate.

With an expected deep, dark pour, Double Naked Fish gives off an amazing aroma of straight dark chocolate and raspberry. This marriage is strong as neither is overpowering and both are distinctly noticeable. It’s like boozy candy, although without any harsh alcohol aroma for a beer that stands at 7.6 percent ABV.

There is just a hint of coffee on each smell, which is layered with vanilla cream and tons of toasted sweetness from Pale Ale and Caramunich malts. This beer smells as if you took a Lindemans Framboise lambic and mixed it with a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout – a “black and tan” combo I highly recommend.

The taste of the beer is thinner than I expected – not nearly close to a chewy stout – and a touch of acidic bitterness at the front of each sip comes from a healthy dose of Goldings hops and the use of chocolate-raspberry coffee. While the smell of this beer was perfectly balanced, the main flavor is most definitely raspberry over chocolate. But not by much.

Each aftertaste lingers with bitter, high-cocoa content chocolate and roasted grain. Not quite coffee. Double Naked Fish clinged to my tongue, making it hard to shake that flavor until my next sip.

Double Naked Fish stats:

• Malt: Pale Malt, Roasted Barley, Caramunich Malt, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate
• Hops: Goldings
• Adjuncts/Additives: Chocolate-raspberry coffee
• ABV: 7.6 percent
• Brewery: DuClaw Brewing Company of Bel Air, Maryland

+Bryan Roth
“Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.” — Jack Kerouac