Nose is chocolate stout, but with nelson sauvin hops passionfruit edge.. a different but mouthwatering proposition. I get chocolate cherry sorts of notes also, bit like a black forest cake. Opaque black body, lovely tan coloured head that laces all over the shop but does dissipate a little.
This label's got a bit more on it than their pale ale. 70+ IBUs, using dehusked malt to produce the black beer along with a swathe of other malt types, plus late 7-day dry hopping. At 7% there's 1.8 drinks to the bottle. All of this sounds very good indeed.
On first taste it's almost more bitter than expected but a wonderfully complex development takes you through the initial burst of fruity bitter hops (slight nectarine again?) and through to a cocoa finish. Takes a few seconds to get through the stages to the end.
Another bloody brave effort from these guys - nothing held back here, it's big and bold in all ways and I like that a lot. Great stuff. 8.0
Several repeat forays have convinced me this should in fact take a hallowed 9.0
ReplyDeleteTo my taste at least this is magic.