“Nevermore are small batch seasonal beers brewed just once. This sweet stout is gently spiced and designed to be drunk hot.
Method: Pour the beer into a saucepan and gently heat to around 60C before decanting carefully to a heavy glass or warm mug. Be careful not to overheat it! Optional extras: a teaspoon of honey, brown sugar or malt powder; a nip of whiskey or brandy. Serving suggestion: Garnish with a slice of orange and/or a cinnamon quill. Enjoy!”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Matte black with a short tan head which disappears pretty quick. Minimal lace as it ebbs.

Aroma: Pretty interesting beer this one…we bought it purely on intrigue. To see what the differences are we thought we’d pour half into a glass cold and heat the other half up to 60°c as suggested on the can. So the aroma of the cold pour gives off copious amounts of spice, licorice, molasses and salted caramel. Soft bourbon notes come through as well. The aroma when heated up offers more of the same, just with added creaminess, warm air and dirty socks 

Flavour: So far the little experiment has been a fail so hopefully it turns around here. This time we’re going to go the other way around and try the hot version first: immediately we’re thinking dark beer tea. It’s really warm and comforting and the spice, licorice and sugary sweetness certainly displays the mulled vibe well. It just seems wrong to be drinking beer at this temperature. When cold the spice, licorice, molasses and Brandy-esque flavours are notably stronger. And we must say more pleasant.

Mouthfeel: Warm: much thinner and creamier. Cold: a bit more rigid and fuller in body.

Overall: Points for such an edgy and clever beer. Did they pull it off? Hhmm not really in our opinion. The hot version lacked flavour cohesion and the cold version, although better, was still a tad thin and baseless. Very cool idea though.