“Your wakefulness outlasted the fire and now the deep, cold night has come. After a blind stumble and no shelter found, you drop to your knees howling a desperate invocation. Begging, bartering, and bellowing to anyone or anything that can hear, or listen. As the frost creeps towards your lungs, you see a shimmer. Has something answered your call? Wiping away the sleet, your eyes narrow. It looks like…”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Pours as black as midnight with a quickly fading dark brown head. All that’s left is a bubbling island in the middle so minimal lace is expected.

Aroma: Phwoar! We sound like a broken record here but hot damn this BA Imperial Stout is on par with some of the best from the USA. The way they’ve got the gorgeous bourbon and heavily roasted malts singing the same hymn is simply superb. Throw on top the additions of vanilla and coconut and we have the making of a masterpiece. Not to mention the rich chocolate, molasses and leather.

Flavour: We knew it was going to be mind-blowing so we’re skipping that part and delving straight in. We’re tasting the whole beer upfront – it comes on with creamy vanilla and toasted coconut, sweet and spicy bourbon, oak, heavily roasted malts, dark chocolate, molasses, licorice and coffee. And the best part? It all then rolls into a big, roasted and warming finish.

Mouthfeel: Slick, oily and well rounded. Full bodied, mild-moderate Co2. This is the big one – 14.6% ABV…where the hell is it hiding? Incredible.

Overall: There’s only one more thing Deeds could do to make this beer perfect and that is to release them in bottles. If they did that we would fill our cellars with them. We would also be broke but hey, we’d have excellent beer at the ready! World class stuff.