“Single barrel, Rich and velvety, delivering coffee, dark chocolate and toffee characters, wrapped up in a silky, smooth malt palate. This Royal Russian Stout is lightly carbonated, offering a hearty and warming feel. It’s balance leans more towards the sweet side of the spectrum.”

 Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Impenetrable black with a thin brown overlay. It steadily reduced and settled to a halo with reasonable lace as we imbibe.

Aroma: After recently noticing we hadn’t reviewed the ’18 vintage (during the review of the ’19 vintage) we thought it must be done. And thank goodness we did! This bad boy is so rich and comforting it’s ridiculous! The whisky barrels are dense and hedonistic with strong support from the likes of charred malt, ash, espresso, dark chocolate, licorice and black leather. Not for the faint hearted!

Flavour: As anticipated it all translates on to the palate with huge whiskey/barrel dominance, charred malt, salted dark chocolate, licorice and burnt toffee/treacle. It’s so dank, earthy and boozy through the mid as it’s lead in to a slightly smoky charred finish with plenty of whiskey and musty oak drawing out on the back end.

Mouthfeel: Thick, velvety, luxurious. Full body with low-moderate Co2. 13.4% ABV presents strongly as expected.

Overall: Jeez that’s an impressive drop. Easily good enough to stack up against the best America and the rest of the world has to offer. Thank God we have another couple of 4 packs in the cellar…can’t wait to see how they improve over the coming years.