“Imperial stout with burnt caramel, black truffle & lava salt.”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: As black as the ace of spades with a short dark brown cap which disappears as quickly as it emerged. It retains a thin halo which manages a consistent set of rings as we sip.

Aroma: This is packing some serious heat. Honestly if we were blindfolded and had to guess what we had we’d be saying it was a BCBS variant as the sheer size and decadence of this is next level. And it’s not even barrel aged! Massive wafts of rich toffee and treacle, molasses, Ribena, salted dark chocolate, sweet espresso and cigar box enjoy support from hints of earthy truffle, raw vanilla and syrupy dark fruits. Oopht!

Flavour: Literally has the texture of sump oil. It initiates with a cameo of warming booze but it quickly lays down for the uber rich and hedonistic molasses, treacle, sweet espresso and toffee. Intense vanilla, dates/prunes, earthy truffle and cigar skins continue with a real faint smoky/ashy note forming late. It rounds off on a burnt yet sweet, fruity yet earthy and salty finish.

Mouthfeel: Thick beer soup…it’s so dense we could almost eat it with a spoon. Low Co2, full-bodied. The 13% ABV does come in and out but it’s very well behaved for its size.

Overall: Holy bejeezus that’s a big beer. We remember being big fans of Stillwater when they first burst on to the Aussie scene – before Aussie craft hit its straps all those years ago. This reminds us exactly why were such big fans. Word of advice though…share this bad boy!