“On a pilgrimage for immortal craft beer we tripped on these heavenly drops of amazingly overwhelming aromas, a thick fudge-like black body, pitch black color and obviously only made in limited amounts. And the taste… even more jesus!”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: As black as the ace of spades and complimented by a finger of tightly held dark brown head. Steady reduction and carefully placed rings mark the glass as it subsides.

Aroma: Extremely rich and strident. It’s intriguing coz at its core it has serious contempt for the olfactories but as we push through the barrier the heavily caramelized and residual sugars from the Port barrels are uncovered. Working backwards from there we get dense molasses, Galliano-like licorice/aniseed, damp oak, old leather, iodine, dark chocolate and salty/soy sauce. Oooopht!

Flavour: Ok that contempt we were mentioning before…it’s back again. Probably a bit too much for us too. In this day and age of big yet sweet pastry Stouts we feel these proper bad ass Impy Stouts have had their time. It’s just harsh, boozy, overly rich with molasses, licorice and leather and lacking any form of sweetness that the Port/barrels should’ve been bringing.

Mouthfeel: Oily, warming and slightly astringent. Low Co2, medium-full body. The 12% ABV shows through too much in our opinion.

Overall: It’s a great idea but the execution is a bit askew. It’s just too raw, rugged and aggressive and lacks cohesion. Not sold on it.