We can never stress this fact enough. Always pull your stouts out of the fridge at least 10-15 minutes before drinking it. The reason is as the beer warms the less your taste buds are being shocked by cold liquid. So, the warmer the stout is the more you can revel in these dark beers’ rich and heavy flavours .
Now lets talk about this beer, we served it in a beer tulip and we’re excited by the sight of a deep and impenetrable appearance which is capped off by a dense 1 cm tan head that retains really well. Healthy lacing on our glass. One whiff of this aroma and we are in love, it’s packed full of perfectly balanced roasted malts, dark chocolate, oats, espresso coffee, cocoa, vanilla and a touch of aniseed in the background. This stout is such a top quality brew that even the subtle metallic aroma of blood doesn’t freak us out. Brilliant! The mouth feel is deliciously smooth and creamy with a full bodied flavour. Mild carbonation gives way to a slightly bitter espresso bite up front. Chocolate, espresso and a sweet hint of brown sugar through the mid escorts roasted cocoa, syrup and a light molasses sweetness all the way through to the exceptional bitter after taste. Great length too, the combination of roasted flavours sitting on the tongue is mind blowing. Wow, halfway through and this is easily up there with some of the best stouts we have ever drunk. The 8.3% ABV is high in content but well buried among the array of rich and moreish flavours. We can not find a single fault with this stout, this is an absolute pearler!