Kernel, Bière de Saison, Barrel aged and blended with London Sour.

Not sure if Ninkasi is barrel aged or not. If not, then I think this one from the Kernel was my first barrel aged saison. Very nice too, drank just under a year since bottling date. Vinegar nose (the London Sour influence?), saison taste and fizz. Wineous. Super drying on the finish (tannins from the oak barrel or the grapes?). Not had this style before. (Since - I had a similar drink by Anspach and Hobday, a galaxy saison aged in Chardonnay barrels.) An understandably expensive style, but one I will go back to (wallet permitting).

De Struise, Delphine Cuvée

I hate Goose Island Bourbon County. I loved the Magic Rock Bourbon Bearded Lady. This one had me trepidatious: Black Albert (blog post pending) is a hallowed drink for me, almost shading the Kernel 1856. I took a guess that this'd be a sweeter version thereof, but had hopes that the chaps from Vleteren wouldn't let me down and make it something less Goose Island and more Magic Rock. I bought 3 bottles just to be sure and it was.....somewhere in the middle.

I mightn't buy this again, perhaps if I saw it on tap somewhere I'd be tempted. (Unless it was at a Craft Beer Co where I'd almost certainly have to mortgage my coat to drink a half. Stupid Craft Beer Co.)

Beavertown, Ger'onimo

Drunk April 12th, photographed June 18th. Best of the Beavertown BA's for me. Nice whiskey upfront on the nose, damp leaves/mineral water and some meat. Good booze on the taste, slight dryness (possibly the whiskey influence?) in the finish. A woody spice going on in this, possibly a little nutty? Decent untunctuous mouthfeel. Nice heavy body. My impy stout nemesis, the dreaded vanilla sweetness, crept in towards the end, but not too much thank goodness.

Partizan, Christmas Stout

My one and only Christmas beer this one from Partizan, a barrel aged strong stout with brettanomyces. My wittily succinct untappd description was "mulled wine and marmite", to which I can't add too much more I'm afraid: burgundy pour, ribena nose (with a marmite edge), taste was spicy mulled wine with a pretty sour edge to it. Minor contribution from the stout only (minimal burnt malts and tar). I kind of knew what I was getting into with this one but nonetheless couldn't really enjoy it for what it was. To make matters worse, I'd caught a particularly nasty bug at some point during the day (visit to The Unicorn for a kid's production probably did it) and I saw the contents of the bottle once more at about 5am, so my memories of this drink are almost certainly tainted somewhat. Think I'll drink my bretts in their more traditional beer-homes in the future.

Goose Island, Bourbon County Brand Stout 2012

Recently, it's been quite rare for me to write about a beer I've only just drunk. (Typically, I'm having to work my way through a backlog of unphotographed beers sitting in a Sainsbury's bag under my sink.) However, with this beer I felt reasonably compelled to get my thoughts up online relatively quickly, the main reason being, I think, that I need some feedback to sort of contextualise my feelings about this beer, their basically being the polar opposite of views of the the majority.

Basically: ratebeer/untappd/beer advocate etc etc all rate this beer as more or less flawless. I disliked it. In fact I think I disliked it more than I've disliked any other beer I've ever had.

Now, regardless of what you think about the various beer rating websites, they do offer some sort of (relatively) helpful gauge when you go to seek out new beer. (My way is: I fancy an impy stout, I take a coffee break to browse beers of europe then I copy and paste the beer titles into google and skim read the various reviews, see which ones paint the best picture.) I suppose this is a vary internet-centric way of doing things, but at least I'm doing my best to try new beers right? Whatever. The Goose Island stout receives 100s across the board. Barrel aged in oak bourbon barrels (for 4 years I think? No, that can't be right....) and 15% abv. The Americans seems to absolutely love this, reviews range from the moderately impressed to the fanatical.

For me: very, very oily, the liquid glistens under the tungsten lights in our house when poured. Very, very black and treacly in colour with a head the exact colour of a caramac. Medium carbonation. Nose off the bottle is heavy, heavy liquorice. The taste, for me, is an aberration: very, very sweet. Beyond sweet. Really very actually quite ugly. Very smooth, but otherwise it seemed so unrefined to my palette: a vicious vanilla bombardment and liquorice strafing. 0% hops, 0% bitterness (and therefore, to my mind, 0% balance), 0% tar/smoke/charcoal. The merest hint of dark fruit, no coffee, no burnt/roasted malts. I know that when they warm up, impy stouts get sweet. I refrigerate mine, start them off cold so that the last third of the drink warms up and the sweetness comes in last (the Magic Rock version gets this right for me - their bitterness is well intact). This was über sweet from the outset and only got sweeter.

I'm slightly (but only slightly) ashamed to say that this was offered up to the drain goblins. It took me well over an hour of wrestling with my conscience (and with the drink itself) before I could justify pouring the best part of a £7/bottle away.

So, in light of how this beer is more generally received (i.e 100s across the board): am I being fair? I've recently been informed (reliably so I believe) that you can't really expect a beer at 15% abv not to be sweet. (This apparently is true for impy IPAs too.) I can get that, but nevertheless, this drink was simply unpleasant for me. I suppose if you like stouts, if you like liquorice, vanilla, if you like desert wines (or sweet wines in general) then this could be for you. Maybe if the bottle was shared out amongst a few people, served in a large shot glass to be sipped like a digestif with a pudding/desert, it could be good? As a beer to drink by oneself in an evening, no. Absolutely not. I just couldn't recommend it at all. Sorry.

Please, please: if I've offended you, if you've got a salient point, if you're sure I've got this wrong (or perhaps if you think my bottle was past its best) - tell me!

Magic Rock Brewing Co, Barrel Aged Bearded Lady

I think that this was the drink that really kick started a drive to sample imperial stouts for me. I drank my first bottle (perhaps somewhat incongruously at the height of summer. I've started to get into saisons as the winter is settling in, think I've got my season pairings back to front somehow...!), of this back at the beginning of August, way before I deliberately started to search out any other similarly styled drinks. After the Un-human Cannonball (bottles of that stored waiting for review + relatively 'special' photo idea) I kind of had the geek-greed for this special edition bottle, so I bought 2 just in case (courtesy of the good folk at Mr Lawrence).

It poured thick and opaque - almost purple. I'd never smelt anything like this before, bitter and dark chocolate, used coffee, liquorice and boozy aromas. The taste for me had all this plus some more wet coffee grounds, the faint tinge of whisky right at the edges, and some hard grape bits - possibly brandy-ish? Peppery smoked meat tinges??

Mouth feel very smooth despite decent carbonation, you could feel the alcohol slightly on the gums (I good thing I think) and a very gentle bitter after. For my 2nd glass from the bottle it was nice to have a Maoam on the side just to sweeten the edge off.

I've had more whisky-er impy stouts since this one (most notable the Kernel BA Glen Spey), but in it's 660ml presentation, wax seal and beautiful bottle graphics, this had an air of occasion about it that adds to the drinking experience. Of course the limited nature of it helped too, plus the hype online and on the Magic Rock website.

Having said that: there's a contingent of electronic music producers/labels that release very rare tunes on a very limited run of vinyl and this alienates those who will never be able to get hold of it. (The vinyl then inevitably appears on discogs at silly, well over-inflated prices). I saw on twitter that beer releases such as this one and the Un-human Cannonball from Magic Rock can have the same effect. I was fortunate to get both, but I think I'd prefer them to be more available, if only to drive down the price a little bit. (Obviously, the rarity adds to the desirability...a double edged sword I suppose.) £12 for 660ml of 10.5% liquid is certainly high. A similar amount of money will get you A Chateauneuf du Pape. It seems that's where we're at with this type of strong beer (leaving aside tax issues on creating beers above 7.4% abv). It is certainly a sting on the wallet, but I for one, am more or less content to pay these prices. For comparison, Kernel did a BA impy at £6/330ml, Mikkeller obviously take the piss even more (and on tap: Even More Jesus from Evil Twin at £13/pint...). Whatever, vote with your wallet I suppose.

Kernel Brewery, Glen Garioch Barrel Aged Stout

The back of this bottle says: "A blend of Imperial Brown Stout and Export Stout. Aged in a Glen Garioch whisky cask. Second Fill." I like the way the Kernel give you full info on their drinks. Bought direct form the brewery this one at a relatively hefty price (not as expensive as the full Impy version though....), this one smelt of tar, T-Gel, london smoke and the occasional sharp vapour of Glen Garioch whisky. Very mildly carbonated and an opaque black with brown tinges. Poured slowly so no head. Alcohol at the edges of the tastes, coffee and maybe the occasional blackberry or sour cherry? (Am I being influenced by the Magic Rock description here? Possibly....) Definite whisky aftertaste - scotch plus that sort of palette cleansing, stripping down effect.

Massively satisfying, small sips only required. Took me just over 1hr to drink the whole bottle so worth every penny. Really rather looking forward to the Imperial version of this drink!