500ml bottle from Tesco. Dark caramel and clear with a thin head. Good lacing. Aroma of damp wood and roasted cooffe. Slightly minerally dry finish needs a little more body. Prolonged roasty finish.

50cl bottle from Lørenskog Brusshop. Pours very dark amber, almost black, with a small beige head. Aroma of licorice and roasted malt with some fruits and hints of coffee and toffee. Medium body and carbonation. Sweet and lightly roasty with a licorice flavour and a lightly bitter finish. Well balance and easy to drink. Nice session beer!

50cl bottle shared. Ok off-white head. Clear black pour. Nice smooth brew. More of a porter than a stout

Medium to good yellow-cream head; well-carbonated, ruby-brown beer. Chocolate, roasted malt, sweetish but dark grain, sweet coffee, autumn leaves, breadcrust. Very roasted/burnt flavour. Bitter-roasted, sweet underbuild, bit ashy. Long lasting flavours. Very slick, medium bodied, well-carbonated. Slightly better than average stout.

Location: 1/2 L bottle from mwmanvt, 8/18/12

Aroma: The nose of this beer is roasted and burnt malts mostly, with some earthy undertones to it
Appearance: Pours a dark brown color with a nice sized foam of beige-brown head and heavy, drippy lace
Flavor: The taste is much like the nose, it is more roasted/burnt then it is sweet, without much bitterness
Palate: The body is light-medium, it has an average carbonation, and a slightly dry, almost ashy feel to it
Overall Impression: Thanks for bringing this one back from England Mike, I'm sure it could have been purchased back in the US, but the fact that it was purchased in its native country clearly makes it better! Anyway, I enjoyed this one. I liked drinking it, but at the same time, it didn't quite hit any really exciting levels. Still, it is a highly drinkable and sessionable British stout-like offering, and I really felt all of the components worked here.

Draft at Taps Beer Bar, Kuala Lumpur. Dark mahogany pour. What else would you expect? Light head and light lingering lacing. It sticks to the glass! The malt shines through in this ale for sure with smokey treacle overtones. A thoroughly nice beers from one of my favourite breweries! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Smell of caramel, roast and chocolate. Black colour, medium brown head. Bitter, some sweetness in aftertaste. Some coffee to be noted. Slightly watery, but for a 4.6 % rather rich in taste.

On Tap at Meantime Brewery in Greenwich England

A - Light brown. Little light comes though. Leather cream head of 1 finger.

S - German malts. More akin to a porter than a stout. Decent malt backbone. Slight creaminess to the smell. Peanuts

T - Yeah. Nutty and big malts. Not too intense with the smoke but it’s there. Slightly a bit of charcoal. Chocolate.

M - 85% carb. Light body. Very woody finish

O – 3/5. Once again. Tasty but too forgettable.

In 2010 I had a bottle of this and was underwhelmed by the whole thing and scored it fairly low: on 25 Oct 2011 I had a half pint at the Greenwich Union, Meantime Breweries tap house, it’s a different animal on tap. Deep dark brown, almost black; ruby red hints if held up to sun through the pubs sky light. A rich deep foam head the colour of tanned leather sat proudly on top. Roasted, singed malts hit the nose, dark chocolate and coffee granules on brown toast followed the initial smells. The taste was also of almost burnt malts and those coffee, chocolate smells mentioned earlier in the aromas. No sweetness to it at all, is it a hop bitterness, or from the malts? I don’t know. Certainly better than I remember the bottled version and scored accordingly.

(bottle) Clear, dark brown colour with a reddish shine and a dense medium-sized tanned foamy head. Earthy roasted malty aroma with notes of dark chocolate and vanilla. Moderately roasty bitter flavour, light bodied with a slightly sharp carbonation. Roasty malt upfront with notes of dark chocolate and liquorice; dry-ish and quite slim, moderately roasty bitter finish. Light-bodied but still tasty. 25.II.12