Southwark Old Stout

Old stout, and looks it too.

In fact it kind of put me in mind of another regional stout I had on the road.. though this one has a bit more of a legacy reputation. In fact, looking at ratebeer it's pretty highly regarded indeed.

I found it far better than the aforementioned invalid, but nothing that special. It's a solid black pour supposedly based on an old English Russian Imperial recipe, but seemingly more often regarded as a Foreign Extra Stout and to my mind it fits the second category more naturally.

Aroma is of chocolate, bitter hops and slight alcohol. Mouthfeel is pretty highly carbonated for the style but then it's captaining a phalanx of blasting alcohol that comes at you after an initial dry cocoa introduction. It's complex but better than most and you'd think with a bit of label-work and redistribution via the Lion Nathan empire, could be selling a few bottles elsewhere. I'd like to see it racked over coffee for a while and see what that does..  6.0