Anspach and Hobday, The Kickstarters

The Kickstarters stout porter from A+H. Minor gushing. High carbonation. Nice smell, bit like the Buxton Tsar. Coffee, choc, liquorice, burnt malts. Dry finish. Yeast soup for the last 3rd.

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!

Partizan, Foreign Export Stout

Stouts are alot easier for me to quantify and calibrate than IPAs it seems - I seem to have more notes for them than my IPAs... Fantastic FES from Partizan: stinks of coal, charcoal and sweet tar. Murky yellow foam head. Creamy mouthfeel with the alcohol detectable on the extreme edges. It's strong though and it got me drunk. Heavy and my sips were small and slow. Knowing with Nicholas Cage was on whilst I drank this - some scenes reminded me of the the Thin Man from that educational children's series that I watched at middle school. Anyone else remember that? Late on in the drink I realised that my teeth had sort of a slight iron coating on them.

Kernel Brewery, Export Stout London 1890

Possibly my favourite stout from The Kernel. I don't have any notes for this, but I don't suppose you really need them: if you love stout and you haven't tried this one then you're an idiot.