“This Imperial Stout was aged in Bourbon Barrels for 12 months resulting in thick chocolate notes, backed by vanilla, coconut, whiskey and oak.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Dense black with a thumb of brown foam emerging on top. It steadily peels off but still manages a gorgeous wavy lace as we imbibe.

Aroma: Hell yeah…the Bourbon/barrels are infused with the base Stout characters extremely well. Loving how the creamy vanilla and coconut shines through the carnal richness of the malts and the decadent sweet spicy-ness of the Bourbon. The formwork certainly deserves a mention too; moreish chocolate, dates/prunes/figs, toffee, warming booze, molasses and licorice. Hot damn that’s good!

Flavour: We definitely get every bit of the 14.6% ABV but to be fair at that weight it’s impossible to hide. It comes on with a rich malt sweetness and chocolate then the Bourbon, oak, coffee, licorice, charred malts and spice come crashing through. The sweet vanilla and coconut enters the fray (pun intended!) And settles it all down as it finishes hot and heavily roasted with Bourbon for days.

Mouthfeel: Dense and bulky, oily, minimally carbed. Full body. The 14.6% ABV as we’ve mentioned is pretty in-your-face but kinda expected.

Overall: We don’t normally do Deeds as we believe they’re more about quantity than quality but hype has got the better of us on this one. We can certainly understand where the hype comes from though…this would no doubt be the best beer we’ve had from them. May have to grab a few more for the cellar! Brilliant.