“Slice into this bold barrel-aged imperial stout and experience the nostalgia-inducing aroma of a warm cherry pie. Full-bodied and smacking of freshly-picked tart cherries, rich artisan vanilla, cinnamon and hints of brown sugar. This bakery is open for business.”

 Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: As black as midnight with a healthy two finger head. Excellent retention and lacing as we imbibe.

Aroma: There’s only a few times when we can say that an aroma smells exactly like the food its imitating but this smells exactly like a cherry pie! Bursting with sweet and tart cherries, cinnamon, buttery pastry, vanilla, strawberry jam, plum jam, melted chocolate, caramelised pear and apple. We keep picking up hints of candied lemon which is strange yet it kind of works. Not much in the way of bourbon barrels but it doesn’t matter as there’s already enough happening.

Flavour: Holy moly, so much to unpack! Macerated cherry, cinnamon, vanilla, jammy red berries, cocoa, lightly roasted malts and caramel/toffee. The bourbon barrels show up a little bit more here with very faint woody oak and dark fruits. Pretty clever usage of bourbon barrels because they emphasize the same flavors already present (toffee, vanilla, spice and caramelised pear/apple).

Mouthfeel: Smooth, creamy, medium bodied. It’s remarkable how well they’ve hidden the 10.2% ABV. Co2 is perfect.

Overall: These guys just keep getting better and better. We’ve mentioned it before but the shift in to 500ml cans was a masterstroke. And this Bakery series has us totally hooked! Loving it.