Tap at Billie’s. Black pour with beige head. Nose is chocolate, molasses, dried fruits, lots of rum, some sherry and port notes and pink peppercorn. Taste is mainly sweet, malty with notes of chocolate, dried fruits, molasses, rye bread, rum and sherry with pink peppercorn on the palate. Closes with a long lasting, sweez and boozy finish, has a huge, slightly sticky body and soft carbonation. What a great surprise this was, one of my favourite barrel combinations, a solid base beer and all this with an interesting twist of pink peppercorn? Yes, please!

Draught Medium tan head, slowly regressing over black beer. Portwine/rum/Bourbon, nutty, X-mas cake, sweet but pleasing, boo-o-o-zy, but nice. Sweet, chocolat, spirits, black chocolate at 78%, rich, spiced. Viscous, velvety texture. Alcoholwarmth obvious, but the real punch remains masked. And so it would seem Mariatorgets is great on all fronts.