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Salted Caramel Chocolate Roller
Our Rating: 4.06 / 5
Salted Caramel Chocolate Roller from Mad Scientist delivers clear salted caramel, milk chocolate, and fudge over a restrained stout base. Aromatics are confident and precise, balance stays controlled, and sweetness remains readable. Body drinks lighter than the flavours suggest, leaving a well-made, enjoyable pastry stout with room for textural weight.
Beer Name: Salted Caramel Chocolate Roller
Brewery: Mad Scientist
Beer Style: Salted Caramel Pastry Stout (Pastry Stout)
Alcohol: 8.0%
Taste Notes: Salted caramel, fudge, milk chocolate, saline, creamy, light cocoa,
Serving: Can
Serving Size: 440 ml (14.9 fl. oz.)
What The Fudge
Salted Caramel Chocolate Roller is an 8.0% salted caramel pastry stout from Mad Scientist, packaged in a 440ml can and built on malted barley with a heavy oat bill, lactose, cacao beans, maltodextrin, salted caramel, hops, yeast, and added aroma.
The pour settles almost immediately into a flat, greyscale black, with no head formation and only thin, sticky sheets of lacing clinging briefly to the glass. The body reads opaque but clean, without murk or particulate floating around in the glass. Carbonation presents visually as low, which fits the pastry-leaning intent of a salted caramel pastry stout. From the first lift of the glass, the aroma is very pronounced: salted caramel up front, followed by a dense dairy note that evokes fudge or butterscotch, with milk chocolate rounding out the profile. The projection is confident and direct, filling the space above the glass without coaxing.
The first sip likewise follows through on the aromatic promise. Salted caramel lands immediately, thick and rounded, edged by a clear saline snap that keeps the sweetness from collapsing into cloying territory. Milk chocolate follows, mild and not bitter, laid over a roasty but restrained malt base. The roast level in the glass stays supportive of the general salted caramel, butterscotch premise, supplying bitterness through grain rather than present hop notes, and doing so with a gentle, coffee-ish firmness.
The Carbonation feels creamy and mild, smoothing transitions. The mouthfeel, though, stops short of full pastry stout indulgence. It is creamy, but closer to a high final-gravity porter or milk stout than the dense, spoon-coating texture some will expect from the style. Balance remains steady throughout the sip, with salt, roast, and sweetness holding each other in place. The finish trails into salty fudge with a slight thinness and a faint sour edge, lingering briefly before clearing.
High Roller
As the glass opens and the temperature rises, the caramel character broadens and deepens, shifting into a warmer confectionery register built around cooked sugar, butter, and soft toffee. The chocolate presence settles through the mid-palate as milk chocolate powder and cocoa cream, adding breadth and persistence. Dairy notes grow clearer with warmth, reading as cream and fudge and reinforcing the rounded sweetness already established. Salt remains evenly distributed across the palate, giving shape and definition, keeping the sweetness articulated and legible across the sip.
Carbonation eases gradually, guiding the texture toward a smoother, heavier flow. The Carbonation stays creamy and mild, supporting flavour carry without lifting or sharpening. Body lands in a polished, fluid space: cohesive, clean, and easy to drink, yet lighter in density than the flavour profile suggests. That mismatch becomes more apparent as the beer warms. Lactose amplifies sweetness and smooths edges, while maltodextrin adds firmness and a gentle chew, though the combined effect stops short of delivering the plush, enveloping viscosity some of us associate with pastry stout.
The intensity and precision of the caramel and chocolate aromatics point toward the declared use of added aroma, particularly in the clean projection and candy-like clarity of those notes.
That choice delivers immediate recognisability and consistency, anchoring the flavour profile securely while also explaining the beer’s confident aromatic reach. The aroma use is done really well, and it’s a welcome route for this beer to take.
The finish carries salted fudge, soft cocoa, and a faint lactic edge that fades gradually, leaving a clean palate with a lingering echo of sweetness and roast. Served around the stated 8 °C, the beer shows balance and composure, while warmer temps draw out aromatic density and sweetness.
Within BJCP 2021, the closest anchor sits around Sweet Stout (16A), expanded through adjunct use, elevated strength, and dessert-driven flavour design. The stout framework remains clear in the roast profile and bitterness structure, with caramel, lactose, and cacao shaping the pastry expression.
On Untappd, the beer holds a 4.01 average, closely matching our group spread from 3.75 to 4.50, with our collective average landing close to the one on Untappd.
The higher scores reflect appreciation for flavour clarity, balance, and restraint in adjunct use; the lower scores trace back to texture and body weight, where flavour promise outpaces mouthfeel delivery. Taken together, the scores land where they do because the beer executes its flavours with confidence and control, while leaving some of us wanting a deeper, heavier physical impression to match that flavour delivery.
- Viktor: 3.75 / 5
- Casper: 3.75 / 5
- Jesper: 4.25 / 5
- Laurits: 4.50 / 5
Our Average Score: 4.06 / 5
