DuClaw Brewing Dirty Little Freak
Maryland’s DuClaw Brewing is no stranger to twisting and contorting beer into any shape they wish. From their gimmicky (though tasty) Sweet Baby Jesus to this altered-state, brown ale, the company certainly likes to toy with our emotions. Dirty Little Freak is a 5.8% ABV (30 IBU) brown ale that’s been brewed with coconut, an ingredient that I am not overly fond of finding in my beer. And yet…
Dirty Little Freek, for the most part, tastes just like those Somoa cookies from the unrelenting hordes of Girl Scouts we encounter every year. The beer is nutty, sweet, chocolatey and coconut-y to the point that it suffers a bit from the same thing as SBJ — it’s got a bit of a “fake” characteristic. That all said, I still liked this beer. I shouldn’t. It’s not great, but just like those damned, infernal cookies I can dig it.
Appearance
The brew pours a dark cola brown in color with a frothy cap of beige foam.
Aroma
Coconut hits first with a good nuttiness, bread and hint of cocoa. It smells just like a Samoa cookie.
Taste
The artificial flavor aside, this beer tastes just like the cookie, too! Coconut, cocoa, bread, caramel, decent nuttiness and a soft hop presence combine for a profile I should not like, but I do. The brew is medium bodied and drinks pretty easily.
Overall
Offer me anything with coconut in it, on it or around it and I will politely decline — unless it’s a Girl Scouts Samoa cooke. I can eat a box of those damned things. Dirty Little Freak reminds me of those fiendish little things just about perfectly. I shouldn’t like this beer, but I did. Damn coconut.
Rating: 3.25/5
