Dark Beers Part 3

Starting with Indie Rabble Brewing of Windsor (website) Tiny Violence Stout (5.0%), and certainly what I would call a stout if tasting blind. No details of the hops used is available. I didn't get significant chocolate in the taste, so presumably no chocolate malt, but they have used cocoa powder, which adds a hint of chocolate, and it was just a hint for me, despite their website suggesting "decadent chocolate" truffle! An easy drinking stout with roasted malt/barley flavour and hints of coffee. I certainly enjoyed drinking it and noted "Pretty damn good."

From Dundee in Scotland and Holy Goat Brewing (website), their Date Porter (5.9%). This export strength porter is brewed with a blend of double roasted crystal, red rye crystal and amber malts, then conditioned on 150kg of Tunisian Deglet Nour Date syrup. Again, no details of the hops used are provided. And yes, you can tell it is brewed with dates, there's a hint of fruit and liquorice in the aroma, a pleasant rich fruitiness in the taste with a dry finish. Pretty good! 

The Kernel Brewery of South East London (website) Export Stout - Damson (7.5%) is based on a 19th century recipe of Truman Brewery (Brewery History). Hops used "vary from batch to batch" and it's aged on whole English damsons for 6 months! Surprisingly little aroma, but big fruity taste, slightly tart, hint of coffee, and chocolate from the chocolate malt in the mix (plus Maris Otter, Brown, Black and Crystal malts), and a dry bitter finish. Pretty damn good!

Sureshot Brewing of Manchester (website) collaboration with Emperor's Brewery of Leicestershire (website) and their Oggdo Bogdo (12.0%) a Maple Fudge Imperial Stout. Yet again, no details of hops used for this. The name 'Oggdo Bogdo' is a Star Wars gaming character, I had to look it up. 😉 To the beer, certainly chocolate this time and marshmallow in the aroma and a little maple syrup, smooth, and milky even, to drink, and a big chocolate taste for this one with hints of caramel and vanilla and a dry finish. Quite luxurious! 😁

There may well be another Dark Beer blog reasonably soon, and something a bit different coming up too, many thanks for reading folks, I'm happy to share my love of beers, cheers! 👍

Jolly Fisherman Dark Beer Festival Report

Indeed, I have attended the 2026 Dark Beer Festival held at The Jolly Fisherman (blog), 3 East Beach Street, Hastings TN34 3AR, and there were some very interesting beers available, and the 'rare classic' I mentioned is first on this blog's list. I'm starting off with the cask ales first, followed by the crafty keg beers, and with the full list in the bottom image, because I haven't imbibed them all. 😉 There are a few not great images, but those photographs were taken in the evening, so lighting wasn't great, my apologies, I trust you'll cope! 🍺

The 'classic' in question is Thomas Hardy's Ale (11.3%), originally brewed by Eldridge Pope, who sadly no longer exist, closing in 2003. In 2013 ownership of the recipe/brand was bought by 2 brothers, Sandro and Michele Vecchiato, in more recent times it has been brewed in West Sussex at Hepworth Brewery (website). You will notice that this barley wine, and the one following, aren't really dark beers at all, but they certainly are strong ales!

Thomas Hardy's Ale is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt, a small amount of Crystal malt in the grist, and with a small amount of cane syrup to increase the gravity. The hop varieties used are Fuggle (hopslist) and Golding (hopslist), producing a complex flavour, certainly big malt taste from the Crystal, my notes say "sweet start, dry bitterness, almost metallic finish, good stuff! 👍 The image I used includes the charity box for cystic fibrosis remembering my training module at Sydenham Children's Hospital, who were then the local 'experts' for the condition.

The second barley wine is a wee bit paler, brewed in the West Midlands at Sarah Hughes Brewery (website), renowned for their 6.0% Dark Ruby Mild. However, this ale was their Snowflake, named CAMRA's Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2 years ago. Similar to the Thomas Hardy's it is brewed with Maris Otter pale malt and a small amount of Crystal, and the same hops too, Fuggle and Golding, a barley wine recipe indeed, but with no added sugars to make it as strong. So, not as powerful, but still a big 8.0% with a fruity sweetness at first taste, with spicy orange and a hint of vanilla, but dried out to a bitter finish, nice one. 😁

My third cask ale here, though drunk earlier, was from the traditional heartland of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, and Burton Bridge Brewery (website), their 4.0% (dark) XL Mild. I believe brewed with the same hops as the 2 barley wines, but this is a much darker brew, very easy to drink, smooth with hints of liquorice and caramel in the taste, a little nutty, smooth and, yes, very easy to drink indeed, good stuff! 😊

On to my first keg beer and, from German brewery Konig Ludwig (website), their 5.5% Weissbier Dunkel, a Bavarian dark reddish wheat beer. They use Hallertau hops (hopslist) for their lighter weissbier, probably for this too, but certainly other hops from the same region must be used, although I do apologise for not being able to ascertain which hops. I found, quoting from my notes, it has a very fruity aroma and taste, dark and stoned fruits, hints of spices, chocolate and banana, light in depth and a dry bitter finish, very drinkable. 👍

Next, from the North West in Salford, Pomona Island Brew Co (website), their 6.5% Frangipane/Pastry Stout, No 'Rabbit in a Hat' Tricks, which does what it suggests, tasting of almond, vanilla and with hints of caramel and chocolate. I cannot find the hops used, but the flavour is dominated by the malts used and additions, it is a rich smooth luxurious beer! 👌

To Belgium for this one and Brouwerij Rodenbach (website), their Vintage, a classic 7.0% Flanders Red, matured in (not all of!) 294 enormous oak casks (foeders) for 2 years in cellars below the brewery, in which a secondary fermentation is created by wild yeasts. An older style of porter has a very important influence following Eugene Rodenbach's visit to England in the 1870s, where he learnt how to brew the porter of that time, which probably influenced his choice of hops too. Hops used in the copper include English types like Target and Brewers Gold, but the hops are used for retarding bacteria, not to balance the beer, the flavours develop in the foeders! Rodenbach Vintage tastes of red berries and tart apples, it really is bitter-sweet, not overly tart but gently pronounced. Surprisingly easy to drink. 😮

My penultimate beer reviewed is also from Belgium, but this time from a Trappist brewery, that is Chimay (website), and their 9.0% Grande Reserve (Blue). Chimay primarily use Hersbrucker hops for their beers (hopslist), sadly, I cannot discover whatever else is added for this one. Dark and dried fruits in the aroma and taste, with subtle hints of liquorice and chocolate, my notes say "complex and delightful" and yes, I liked it a lot, pretty darn good! 😁

Finally, the strongest ale here, just, a collaboration between West Yorkshire's Amity Brew Co (website), where it's brewed, and Leicestershire's Emperor's Brewery (website), Twelve Parsecs, a 12.0% Tiramisu Imperial Stout. Brewed with 8 different malt varieties, and for the tiramisu edge, Brazilian coffee beans are suspended in the fermenter for 2 days, replaced by cacao nibs for 5 days. The hops used are not divulged, but the aroma and taste are all about the malts, coffee and cacao, and they produce the desired effect, with chocolate, coffee and vanilla significant. It's described as a 'rich and decadent tiramisu stout' and that is what you get. 😉

I didn't drink every beer, as said above, a few too many for just a couple of visits, but the full list of what was available is in the image above, cheers folks! 🍻

Dark Beers in Hastings...

I was going to post a blog about 'beers and ciders' in Hastings, but decided to divide it into 3 different blogs, and I'm missing out some recent beers and ciders, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it folks. 😉 So I'm starting with 7 darker beers, and kicking off with this cask ale from East Sussex based Three Acre Brewery (website). I drank this at the Dolphin Inn, Hastings (written about many times by me, eg blog), their 4.6% Skylark Stout, which I thought was more like a porter, and I have discussed the difference between stouts and porters in this blog a while back. Brewed with English hops according to Three Acre, a deep chestnut colour, smooth, and nutty with hints of chocolate and coffee in the taste. Not bad at all folks! 

The second beer I am writing about was enjoyed at The Jolly Fisherman in Hastings: see this blog for the pub's history, but no longer a B&B or providing food, although there are some excellent bar snacks available. This was from Polly's Brew Co (website) in North Wales and their 6.0% Winter Slope Stout, as I've already said my piece about porters and stouts I'll not repeat myself! A mixture in the grist of black, chocolate and crystal extra dark malts, and oats, dominate the taste. My notes say it all: "slightly toasted flavour with a hint of chocolate, very tasty and full bodied, yet smooth and easy to drink, surprisingly easy to knock back!"

This is a rather excellent beer from Manchester's Sureshot Brewing (website), their 11.0% Imperial Stout, Beware Oblivion is at Hand, indeed! Brewed with vanilla and cacao nibs, strangely not a lot of aroma, but packed with flavour, maybe my nose was overloaded at the time, 😉 I noted a hint of coffee, however, predominantly chocolate in the taste, and luxurious!

Next is another 'Imperial Stout' Wookie Mistake (11.0%), a collaboration between Electric Bear Brewing of Bath (website) and Emperor's Brewery, from Coalville near Leicester, who are currently on facebook; website being set up. Apparently, this beer is salted, which I didn't detect, and only discovered on checking Electric Bear's website. Indeed, the full flavour and sweetness of chocolate dominated, the chocolate coming from cacao nibs added to the brew, and a hint of caramel in the taste from caramel essence. Yes, another luxurious dark beer! 😁

The strongest and most luxurious of the 'Imperial Stouts' reviewed here comes from Yorkshire brewers, based in Leeds, Tartarus Beers (website), and their Bokkenrijder Triple Chocolate Imperial Stout (12.2%), another collaboration, this time with Dutch Bargain of the Netherlands (website). As you can see, I bought this as a takeaway, and I see from the Tartarus website they brew another same strength stout too, and an even stronger one, and even a stronger IPA! 😲 The Bokkenrijder is brewed with cacao nibs and vanilla, and cacao powder is added too, so yes, plenty of chocolate in the aroma and taste, luxurious indeed, nice one. 👍

Finally, yes I lazily have included only one photograph for 2 beers, one of which came home with me. 😉 At the pub, so in that glass, was this blog's penultimate brew, another collaboration, this time between Cloudwater Brew Co of Manchester (website) and Puhaste Beer of Estonia (website), and their 7.0% Behind The Sun And The Stars, brewed for Baltic Porter Day. Yes, definitely a porter, the aroma had a hint of coffee, dark fruits and chocolate, with chocolate dominating the flavour, strangely lighter and more refreshing than I expected, very good.

The final beer above, in the bottle, was another 'carry out' for me, from the historic Schlenkerla brewpub in Bamberg, Germany (website), and their more modest 5.1% Aecht Schelnkerla Rauchbier Marzen. This is a bottom fermented, thus lager style, lightly smoked beer, deep red in colour, with a smoky aroma and taste, a hint of toast to my taste, and a dry finish. I've even had 2 friends since tell me they've visited the pub/brewery, not that I'm jealous, cheers! 😁

There you go, a fairly diverse selection for me. 😉