“Our hoppy dark monster won’t raze a village but it will drop some badass funk on your taste buds. The high percentage of specialty grain brings the soul of malt, biscuit and coffee notes. The bitterness and aroma comes from the hit of hops added throughout the boil as well as dry-hopping. All this is backed upwith a higher than normal alcohol making for a beer that is right on. Can you dig it?”
Served in an English pint. Quite an elegant looker – a deep mahogany centre working to a chestnut edge. On top an egg shaped head inches up to about two fingers then retracts and settles to a thick, fluffy overlay with a tonne of lace left in its wake. A lovely equilibrium is happening on the nose. We’re getting those gorgeous dark malts, cocoa, nuts, tobacco and mild roast working harmoniously with the piney and slightly vinous hop accents. It actually comes off a bit like a black IPA at times – nicely roasted but possessing a prominent hop aroma. We like it. In the mouth it’s spritzy and slightly dry with a thin-ish texture. It’s quite light on with moderate body and a super easy swallow. ABV sits at 5.3% so it’s not at all aggressive. Very approachable. The flavour profile is a case of the old switcheroo. We’re getting a more hop-forward front palate with the likes of pine needle, vines and dried tea leaf being emphasized by a mild bitterness. Hints of roasted malt, cocoa and nuts annex to the subsiding hops and lead in to a toasty finish with a palatable back end of toffee and mild roast. Some good legs being shown too. All in all it wasn’t a bad beer. Although there’s nothing overly memorable about it either. Good balance, a good hop bill and a robust mat base but there still seems to be something missing. There’s no knock out blow for us. A decent drop but we’ve had better brown ales.