Bottle from Cotteridge Wines, Birmingham. Poured a deep mahogany with a frothy tan head. The aroma is big roasted malt, creamy chocolate and coffee. The flavour is strong bitter. Full bodied with low carbonation and an oily texture. The palate is big chewy liqourice with a lovely long bitter finish. This rally is an awesome stout.

Bottle at home in London. Version with ABV of 7.4%, bottled on 06/02/2013, so the beer has had plenty of time to develop. Pours deep brown-black with a huge, lasting beige foam head. The aroma is quite dynamic, with plenty of well roasted malts at the core, surrounded by baking cocoa, some dark fruits and toasted bread. Medium sweet flavor with rich, slightly bittersweet cocoa, restrained charred malts, some raisins, chocolate cake, light flinty minerals, some dark bread, milk chocolate. Medium to full bodied with average carbonation and an exceedingly creamy mouthfeel. The finish has just a touch of alcohol warmth, followed by lots more richly roasted malts, baking cocoa, moderate scorched earth bitterness, ash, slight tobacco and further chocolate cake. Rich and complex, this beer is also impressively well balanced and drinkable. If you happen to be sitting on a bottle of this beer that was released in early 2013, I would drink it now because I cannot envision it getting any better than this.