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! 👍

Dark Beers Part 1

I keep returning to darker beers when fine pale cask ales are not available and, sadly, I do not have room for cask ales at home! 😉 So, where shall I start? I like this photograph of a beer having flowed over the side, looks nice and fresh, so I shall start with this...

From Tartarus Beers of Leeds (website) Snow Wasset, a 5.5% Maple Pecan Hot Chocolate Stout. First of all, the name, the Snow Wasset is a mythical creature from the around the Great Lakes in North America that is similar to a very large wolf, and which loses its short legs in the winter so that it may burrow even further north through snow drifts! ⛄ Brewed with Olicana hops (British Hop Association) providing a gentle hint of tropical fruits in the aroma and taste. But with maple and pecan flavouring added to the brew more dominant, I detected toffee and molasses in the aroma, with hints of nuts in the taste, and yes, chocolate too, from the chocolate malt used in the grist. My notes say "not as sweet as I expected with a really dry finish, bloody good!" 😁

Second, from Dundee in Scotland, Holy Goat Brewing (website) Sabra Cadabra Volume II, a 5.3% Single Origin Tanzanian Vanilla Stout. Brewed with Sabro hops (Yakima Valley Hops), adding plum and raisin flavours to the chocolate malt in the grist, and fermented on vanilla beans harvested in Tanzania's Kilimanjaro region, which produces a 'magical' beer. I detected a big chocolate aroma with hints of coffee, and predominantly a chocolate stout flavour, not overly sweet, but with a dry finish though, and another exceedingly good dark beer. 👍

Next, from Baron Brewing of Hertfordshire (website), their 4.7% Bring That Beat Back, a straightforward 4.7% stout, which they insist has had no adjuncts added to the brew, and which I can attest to. My notes are quite succinct, I wrote "surprisingly light for such a dark ale. Slight aroma of toast, a wee bit sweet, a session stout." It's a very good stout!

From East Sussex Burning Sky's brewery (website) Is This Real?, a smooth 5.2% stout. Brewed with Chinook (hopslist) and Perle (hopslist) hops, presumably chocolate malt in the grist, although only subtle dark chocolate in the aroma, with a hint of toast and spices too.  A lovely dry finish, again not sweet, and Mr Tranter continues to stand out whatever he brews!

I named this Dark Beers Part 1 because I keep drinking other dark beers I want to share the experience of, so yes, many more to come, cheers! 😁

My Beers on International Stout Day, AND Cider to Come!

I did suggest I would imbibe more dark beers for this day (blog), so I visited the nearby Eel & Bear (blog) and drank this beer whilst there (above), and took a couple of beers home with me. From The Kernel Brewery in London (website), their Export India Porter (5.6%), and I shan't go on about the difference/similarities between Stouts and Porters here, as my opinion has been shared before, eg blog; if I had tasted this 'blind' though I would have called it a stout! 😉

The Export India Porter recipe is "inspired by mid-19th century recipes from Barclay Perkins and Whitbread" beers that were transported to British service personnel stationed in India, but brewed with a 21st century touch. Each batch is different, as they use different hops in each brew, mostly fruity hops from the USA, but now and then English hops, such as Bramling Cross (hopslist), which wouldn't surprise me if used in the bottle I drank from, who knows?!? But I got fruity and roasted flavours, hint of coffee and chocolate, nice one to start the day with. 👍

I did say I would drink the Hercule from Belgium again, which I did, but shan't repeat what I've already shared in my very recent blog. At risk of repeating myself, nice one! 👍

And the second stout at home was from Dundee in Scotland, Holy Goat Brewing (website) Foehammer Imperial Stout (11.2%), "based on an 18th century recipe for Courage Russian Imperial Stout." Because it is based on a traditional recipe I'm guessing English hops are used, but the brewery doesn't share that information, and the malts dominate the flavour anyway.

The reason for 'Russian Imperial Stouts' is that Peter the Great fell in love with London stouts when he visited England in 1698, and had some sent to his court back in Russia, where it became very popular. Indeed, Empress Catherine the Great, who had married Peter's grandson and overthrew him in 1762, loved Imperial Stouts too, and this recipe is based on an Imperial Stout supplied by Courage to her. 🍺

So, what's it like? There's a hint of liquorice and chocolate in the aroma and taste, but surprisingly very gentle in the aroma. Less sweet than I thought it would be after all the chocolate stouts and porters I've been drinking recently (blog). Very dark with plenty of body, and a dry slightly bitter finish, a much more subtle stout than I thought it would be, pretty damn good, cheers! 😁

And now for cider! Hastings Old Town Cider Festival 2025 begins today (7-15 November), at 7 venues in Hastings Old Town (Hastings Sussex website):

• The Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA;
• The Crown, 64-66 All Saints Street TN34 3BN;
• Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock a Nore Road TN34 3DW;
• East Hastings Sea Angling Association, The Stade TN34 3FJ;
• First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY;
• Jenny Lind, 69 High Street TN34 3EW;
• Jolly Fisherman, 3 East Beach Street TN34 3AR.

Have fun folks, cheers! 👍