Metal and Beer, No Corporate Beer Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, Carvel, Fudgie the Beer, No Corporate Beer, No Corporate Beer Reviews, stout.

Beer: Fudgie the Beer
Brewery: Captain Lawrence Brewing Company (Elmsford, NY)
Style: Stout – American
6% ABV / N/A IBU

Fudgie the Beer, the first of Captain Lawrence Brewing Company’s limited release collaborations with the Carvel Ice Cream Company, hit shelves for the third time in summer 2019. Captain Lawrence, which has also brewed limited collaboration with Carvel based on the signature ice cream cakes Cookie Puss and Cookie O’Puss (the St. Patrick’s Day themed Cookie Puss), swears that this is the end of the line for Fudgie the Beer, but I don’t believe it. For one, the Captain Lawrence-Carvel partnership is a winning and warmly nostalgic formula, and once you get past Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale, the drop-off is pretty steep. Nutty the Ghost? Tom the Turkey? That’s just the Rob Kardashian of ice cream cakes.

But beyond that, Fudgie the Beer is just a simple and elegantly conceived stout with pleasing notes of fudge and a robust coffee-like roast flavor from the malt. Of course, no one will mistake this for the actual Fudgie the Whale ice cream cake, but the Elmsford, NY brewery has gone to particularly great lengths to capture Fudgie the Whale’s essential character by brewing the stout with fudge, ice cream, and Carvel’s signature brand of chocolate crunchies. And, surprise, there is a little bit of an ice cream flavor, likely imparted by the milk sugars used in the brewing process – a nice bit of alchemy considering that adding actual ice cream to the brewing process wouldn’t do much except dilute the beer. More chocolate flavor overall would be welcome, but maybe not necessary – there’s enough going on with Fudgie the Beer to promote positive associations on the way down.