National Beer Day (+ Dark Beers Part 4)

This dark treat is a collaboration between Brouwerij Kees of the Netherlands (website) and Tuletorn (meaning Lighthouse) of Estonia (website), their Marble Cake (10.5%), described by them as a "Baltic Chocolate Marble Cake Pastry Porter." My notes say: "looks good, great chocolate aroma with a hint of liquorice. Taste? Big very dark chocolate flavour, nowhere near as sweet as I expected, with a dry finish, luxurious!" I liked it very much. 😉

From Burnt Mill Brewery of Ipswich (website), their 8.4% Obsidian Flow Imperial Stout. The hops used for these darker beers are not usually shared by brewers, but there seems a suggestion that Wai-iti hops (hopslist) have been used by Burnt Mill to add further complexity to this impressive stout. They suggest roasted coffee, liquorice, dried fruits and cinder toffee (honeycomb, like in a Crunchie Bar) in the taste. I noted "gentle chocolate in the aroma with a hint of liquorice, and darker chocolate with hints of coffee and liquorice in the flavour, with a dry finish. Plenty of body, as expected, initially bitter-sweet, but not really sweet at all!" If that makes sense? Notes are written as I'm drinking and interpreting, and yet another very good stout. 👍

Another strong collaboration, this time between Sinnister Brew of Scotland (website) and Bereta of Romania (website), their Tactical Frivolity, a 12.1% Imperial Pastry Stout brewed with coconut and vanilla! It pretty much does what it says on the label, plenty of flavours, with dark chocolate adding to the vanilla and coconut, I said "luxurious!" Nowt more to add. 😁

Finally, from Siren Craft Brew of Berkshire (website), renowned for their extra-specially tasty stouts (eg Caribbean Chocolate Cake blog), their 13th anniversary Imperial Stout, Shattered Mirror (9.1%). Brewed with "Cacao, Vanilla, Toasted Coconut, Coffee, Deconstructed Rum Barrels (presumably either spirals or chopped stave chips as in the CCC series - blog again), and Lactose." That gives you an idea of how much variety of flavours could effect the taste! 

Indeed, the aroma is BIG, big chocolate particularly, with hints of coffee, coconut, caramel and vanilla, and the taste doesn't disappoint or let it down. Similarly though, and I shall copy my notes directly for this: "Rich, thick and luxurious, with a big dark chocolate flavour from cacao, and hints of rum and vanilla." Well, that was what stood out for me, and very enjoyable too. 😋

So, all in all, 4 excellent stouts, Happy Beer Day! 🍫🍺

Black Thaw - Another Black IPA

On my older blog, lost to me to edit anymore, thank you Google/Gmail (😒), I had written about Black IPAs before, and it's still available to view, it appears (blog). Anyway, similarly, I shall not waffle about oxymorons, but will paraphrase what I said then about how Black IPAs are brewed, as explained to me by Brett, who used to work at Hastings Brewery (which no longer exists). The way he brewed Black IPAs, he used malt that had been de-husked, allowing some colour, but not to have the roasted malt flavour, then he chucked in a significant amount of hops, for example, Cascade, Columbus and Galaxy, to ensure an APA style flavour.

Well, the hops used for Burnt Mill's (website) Black IPA, their Black Thaw (6.0%) are Centennial (hopslist), Citra (hopslist) and Erebus (hopsteiner). The end result, I felt, was a bit like a cross between a Black IPA and a Porter, there was a hint of liquorice and dark fruits, body more like a Porter (well it is 6.0%!), and a mixture of citrus and dark fruits in the finish, which is a wee bit dry and bitter, not too sweet, not bad at all, cheers! 😁

If you haven't already read it, this blog is my opinion about stouts/porters.