7.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

One of – meanwhile – a whole string of barrel aged variants of BramBrass’s core imperial stout, this one aged on barrels that previously housed Teaninich, a Highlands whisky owned by Diageo. Moussy, creamy, greyish beige, dissolving head on a misty black beer with mahogany edge. Aroma of indeed Highland whisky, strong vanilla-scenting oak, old moldy wood, bitter chocolate, dried thyme, fig, toffee, black pepper, bayleaf, light peaty note in the background. Restrained in sweetness, some dark dried fruit but umami (beef stock cube) effect is stronger; softish carb, full and rounded, slick mouthfeel. Bitter-chocolatey, coffeeish-roasted, black-bready and bit toffeeish maltiness with more emphasis on bitterness than sweetness, a tad ashy perhaps in the end, soaked in very outspoken whisky flavour paired with slight blackberry and fig notes. Deep, earthy hop bitterness reinforces the roasted bitterness, the booziness and the tannic woodiness. Bold, daring and complex, like the others in this series, though I can imagine the average craft beer geek finding its earthiness and even slight ashiness a bit ‘off’. I for one find this aspect charming and adding complexity – so have a high score, like the other Brewer’s Nightmares.