“An opulent double mashed coffee and vanilla imperial stout, brewed with coffee beans from Halifax small batch coffee roasters, Antonia & Panesar. Deep, dark malt flavours with full-bodied roast espresso aromas, notes of sweet vanilla, and a creamy finish from a touch of milk sugar.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Impenetrable black with a thumb of brown foam nestled in on top. The head is retained rather well but only manages a sparse wet lace on its way down.

Aroma: Those that have been following us for a while would know that we’ve embarked on a mission to find an Affogato Stout that actually tastes like Affogato. Years into this quest we’re still to find one. Already we can tell that there’s hardly any similarity to the elusive dessert here. Yes, we get bittersweet coffee, spicy vanilla, burnt sugars, chocolate and marshmallow but it doesn’t smell like Affogato!

Flavour: Very sweet. Lots of caramelised sugars and dark fruits which kinda steal the limelight away from the milk-sweetened coffee. Delicately roasted malts… we’d even say not enough roast as the sweetness is too dominant. Enhanced even further by creamy vanilla also. It all just slides off a cliff and hardly produces any discernable flavour in the finish, other than a mere residual sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, silky, medium bodied. Too light for 10.7% ABV but we must say the booze is concealed incredibly well.

Overall: Another complete strike out in terms of an Affogato Stout. You’d be hard pressed to even call it a Pastry Stout. It’s just too sweet, timid and lacking any kind of cut-through. Disappointing.