Description and Tasting Notes

A much deeper and more complex stout than the ABV would suggest arrives with waves of coffee and dark chocolate as it’s decanted from the bottle. Pouring a very dark brown with a crema-coloured foam lacing the sides of the glass there’s a gentle hoppy freshness in the aroma from a dose of Summit hops late in the boil, and this is picked up on the palate too, adding a modern touch to the classic roasty profile. 

 

What The Hell Were We Thinking?

This beer came at a time when we were looking to move beyond the ever-changing Big Ideas Series of releases and develop Core and Seasonal ranges. We hadn’t so far released a ‘regular’ stout but definitely wanted a reliable, low-ish ABV, tasty, dark and roasty beer in the lineup. The trial batches focussed on two approaches; essentially a simple grain bill and a more complicated one. The latter approach took the form of a scaled-down version of our Imperial Stout, and this was the path we ended up choosing. The combination of grains includes the amazing Cafe Light from the Belgian Castle Maltings and the end result just had more depth and roasty complexity than the simpler recipe. The beer was tasting great at this point, but we wanted to lift it a little further with a late hop addition and we found that the US-grown Summit variety offered a potent citrus flavour that was an ideal match for the beer. Finishing gravity is on the high side to maintain a full, satisfying and smooth mouthfeel.
 

Bottle conditioned, vegan friendly

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Ingredients/Allergens

Malts: Maris Otter, Oats, Aromatic, Black, Cafe Light, Roasted Barley, Cara Gold

Hops: Admiral, Summit

Yeast: US-05

Other: Sugar

(Allergens underlined. Contains gluten.)