Botella, @El Lúpulo Feroz, Oviedo 16/11/2017 BBD:16/09/20
Color negro espuma beige, aromsa torrefactos con notas licorosas,sabor cacao y cafe con notas a licor cuerpo medio.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a nice large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of roasted malt notes with some light anise notes and some black chocolate notes are also noticeable. Taste is a mix of light roasted malt notes with loads of black chocolate and the bitter malt notes are offset buy some residual sugar notes with hints of liquorice and anise. Body si full with nice creamy texture with good carbonation and not overly apparent alcohol notes. Well brewed imperial stout but anise notes could have been more dominant.

My first beer from this young micro brewery, located to the northeast of Barcelona. The name instills a certain skepticism in me - I do not normally like heavily spiced beers - especially when this brewery claims on their website to brew according to the Reinheitsgebot, which does not allow spices, but I guess the collaboration with Against The Grain is involved in this departure from their own principles. Thinnish but creamy and dense, deep yellowish beige head, leaving behind dots of lacing on the sides of the glass and a steady rim along with a few flat veils of ’beigeness’ in the middle, resting on a pitch black beer with a chestnut brown hue only visible less than one millimeter off the edge - it is already visually clear that no expenses in "imperial stout ingredients" were saved here, always a good sign. Attractive and ’warm’ bouquet of moist old black chocolate bars, cold black coffee, coffee grounds, kahlua, wet leather, diluted beef stock, butterscotch, pear syrup, dried prunes, lots of old raisin, clotted blood, caramelized apple, liquorish and some star aniseed indeed but way less overpowering than I had feared, old tawny port somewhere, faint hints of raw spinach, fresh fig, cinnamon or even Glühwein, nutmeg and cloves, dried banana, whisky but absolutely nothing really off-putting even in its tiniest details. Interesting, complex onset of candied fig mixed with old black raisins for sweetness, dried elderberries for a sourish touch and subtle beef broth-like umami but thinly so, so all things considered, the sweetness wins though not convincingly so; soft carbo, very thick, oily and even slightly ’greasy’ body. A deep world of dark maltiness ensues, with the dried fruit sweetness humbly being carried onwards over a big wave of hard butterscotch-, slightly hazelnut- and quickly heavily toasted bread-like ’barleyness’, while the rye provides additional ’greasiness’ and, more than anything else, a deep, dim spiciness of soggy grey bread that plays a more important role behind the curtains than one would suspect initially. This spiciness is accentuated by a mouth-filling roastedness towards the end, turning almost coffee grounds-like and even a tad ashy, as I tend to expect from this style (and not all imperial stouts, not even many of those hugely hyped examples, show that to this amount!). A ’blood-like’ iron presence is palpable if you manage to ignore this big black malt bill and only in the very end, it was worth waiting for I must add, do the added spices rear their heads, with especially liquorish and to a far lesser extent star aniseed rising up retronasally - fortunately without deeply penetrating the ’an sich’ beautiful play of dark malts, roasted barley and rye that is going on underneath. A peppery hop punch and, of course, an afterglow of whisky-like alcohol (admittedly a bit much so in the end) wrap things up, but the bitter maltiness of black chocolate and coffee get the last word alongside the alcohol. I keep looking for the dreaded spices after swallowing but they seem to be gone - they just came along briefly to say hello and refrained from ruining an altogether generous, big and thick stout. If you must spice up your imperial stout, something I would be inclined to advise against, then this is the right way to do it: add the spices as a volatile presence enhancing the overall flavour, as you would spice a dish of food on an above average quality level. Spicing is a treacherous thing and I have come across many a decent beer, whether it be a tripel, quad, stout or whatever, having been ruined by an all too enthusiastic use of the spice rack - admittedly I hesitated to buy this one merely because of the name. But things turn out well here: this is a very pleasant and enthusing first encounter with this brewery, whether Against The Grain (which I mostly remember from the fiercest gushing I’ve ever witnessed from American bottles) has anything to do with that or not, is an open question to me but I surely enjoyed this beer, meeting all requirements for imperial stout and at the same time managing to smuggle in two normally very dominant spices without putting me off. Have an extra point for that.

well made, but lacks character

Botella 33 cl en Zio Pig Gijon 03..04..2017. Lote s/n hasta 16..09..2020. No varía untuacion. Bastante buena para repetir. Caña en ipa Gijón 29..01..2017. (r03). Color negro intenso brillante con buena espuma cremosa oscura. Aromas y sabores intensos maltosos tostados ligeramente dulces con toques de maderas carbonizadas al final que aumentan al calentar. Cuerpo medio con buena densidad y espuma. Sensación alcohólica apreciable desde el principio. Bastante buena Para repetir sin duda.

Pours black, ok white head. Smell is intense, roasty, bit sweet. Taste is bit sweet, complex ( trough the licorice ) didn’t get the anise, which is - to my taste - probably a. Good thing. Very nice mf and carbo.