A dry stout packed with an abundance of hops, including hops in their latest more potent form of ‘hop hash’.
We really dig these guys. They aren’t afraid to reprise old recipes or tweak current ones. We note the moniker ‘malpractice’.. Meaning unprofessional or breach of ethics. Great name. Poured into a snifter, we see a dark brown/deep mahogany with a hint of amber somewhere in there. Good 10mm tan coloured head that diminished relatively quickly leaving just a rim of clumped bubbles. Aroma is interesting. We get roasted malts, dark chocolate, espresso, toffee, with a hit of hop resin. It’s earthy and robust. First sip elicits that typical stout like flavour with a bitter/grapefruit hop back-palate. It’s like you know somethings coming but not quite sure. It’s comes off almost funky. It’s certainly not in a bad way. The spice now clings to the tonsils as we wait between sips. More ash like malts, espresso, grapefruit bitterness intermixed with a resiny, herby, spicy hops. Body is moderate and there is good length here on the palate. That tingle around the gums and tonsils is almost moreish. Far more carbonation that any other traditional stout. We see some patchy lacing around the glass. We note an Alc vol of 5% and think wow. The smoothness, taking into account the combination of hops and the stout is friggin excellent. As we near the end, the burnt/charred like flavour of a good stout, with the addition of subtle sweetness from the chocolate and toffee, sitting alongside bitterness from the hops and that resiny or earthy undertone is quite marvellous. We love it. It works. Another top drop.