“A chocolatey twist to our collaboration with Horus Aged Ales— this imperial stout was inspired by a chocolate-dipped, cinnamon laden Spanish treat. This pastry-inspired imperial stout was brewed with dulce de leche, milk sugar, cacao nibs, and cinnamon. Have we piqued your Churriosity?”

Glassware: Snifter.

Appearance: Light black with a thin fizzy head which instantly fizzes out. All that’s left is a foaming island in the centre.

Aroma: Wow, what a way to take the wind out of the sails. We had massive expectations for this…and for good reason as The Bruery very rarely disappoint when it comes to pastry stouts. It’s not just the lack of Churros character, the cinnamon donut side is lacking, the sweet caramel notes of the Dulce De Leche are subtle AF but the biggest let down is the lack of oomph from the base stout…very shy and withdrawn. Booo!

Flavour: There’s a slight improvement here but it’s still so pedestrian for The Bruery. The one major upside is that the 10.7% ABV is incredibly well hidden but other than that it just comes across as a hearty Milk Stout with hints of creamy caramel and spice. Far from the intense flavours we’ve come to expect from these guys.

Mouthfeel: Nice and dense, velvety, full bodied. Mild-moderate Co2. Can’t fault the texture one bit.

Overall: Very uncharacteristic for The Bruery to have such a great idea and miss the mark in delivery. But they really have in our opinion. Not a bad drop by any means but far from what we were anticipating.