A Great Many Breaths
Cloudwater Brew Co in Manchester, Greater Manchester, England 🏴
Stout - Imperial Regular|
Score
7.93
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One in a three-part series of single-barrel Imperial Stouts combining our pre-adjunct My Continuous Improvement base with old-world oak. This edition features the very first batch of My Continuous Improvement, aged in a five-year-old Port barrel. Softly carbonated to channel the experience of an indulgent digestif. Best paired with a period of complete stillness and reflection - who are your thoughts?
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7.4/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7.5
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
75cl bottle @ Belgian Beer Geeks Autumn Gathering 2025. Thanks Bjorn for this. Didn't get to try it at the time so good to see it now. Pours a deep dark colour with loose brown bubbles atop. Nicely chocolatey, malty stout but the barrel aging has subsided somewhat, some dried dark fruit moments, bitter close with a woody chocolate linger.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Oct 2025
at 15:43
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle at BBGG. Almost black, small head. Huge roasted malts, licorice, soft whisky, port, chocolate, earthy. Quite sweet, medium bitter. Full bodied. These MCI stours are all over the place, and this is again not something I would pick out as part of this series or even typiocal of Cloudwater. Nice to drink a small glass of though.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Oct 2025
at 22:25
8.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
18/X/25 - 75cl bottle @ BBGG Fall ‘25 (home), BB: XI/2023 (2025-1051) Thanks to ElManana for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark brown to black beer, practically no head. Aroma: good deep roast, red wine, port and sherry, red forest fruits, alcohol, a bit oxidized, earthy, more port. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet and sugary start, good roast, pretty bitter, alcohol, oxidized, some caramel, more alcohol, sugary, dried fruits, way too sweet. Aftertaste: gentle roast, sweet, some alcohol, port and sherry notes, chocolate.
Clear dark brown to black beer, practically no head. Aroma: good deep roast, red wine, port and sherry, red forest fruits, alcohol, a bit oxidized, earthy, more port. MF: soft to no carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet and sugary start, good roast, pretty bitter, alcohol, oxidized, some caramel, more alcohol, sugary, dried fruits, way too sweet. Aftertaste: gentle roast, sweet, some alcohol, port and sherry notes, chocolate.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Oct 2025
at 21:10
8/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Oct 2025
at 10:57
7.1/10
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Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
Bouteille 75cl à Belgian Summer Beer Gathering, merci Bjorn.
BB 11/2023.
Noire, pas de col.
Bière à dominance maltée – pas mal de caramel et de chocolat – certaine profondeur qui se ressent au palais avec une épaisseur tenace. A cela s’ajoute des notes de fruits noirs – et un léger apport déjà un peu oxydé de la barrique de Porto.
In fine, une bière qui n’a pas vraiment tenu les années avec peut-être à barrique de Porto qui se prête moins à ce genre d’essai. A la limite, cela aurait mieux passé sur un barley wine ?
BB 11/2023.
Noire, pas de col.
Bière à dominance maltée – pas mal de caramel et de chocolat – certaine profondeur qui se ressent au palais avec une épaisseur tenace. A cela s’ajoute des notes de fruits noirs – et un léger apport déjà un peu oxydé de la barrique de Porto.
In fine, une bière qui n’a pas vraiment tenu les années avec peut-être à barrique de Porto qui se prête moins à ce genre d’essai. A la limite, cela aurait mieux passé sur un barley wine ?
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Oct 2025
at 08:49
9.2/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
Bottle shared at Ganz. Pours jet black with a brown head. I already went into lengths on the body of the MCI variants and Crackles and Pops so I'm kind of wondering what's left to say here, as it feels even more thicker than those, if it's even possible. Without exaggeration if it was any more thick one would have to literally chew on this. It's a (barely) liquid chocolate bar, immensely creamy, thick and rich, showing a lot of cocoa, light coffee and touches of molasses. The barrel notes also come through to a certain extent, adding berries, red grapes and light tannins to the mix but let's be real they had little chance through the thickness of the base beer. Closes with a long lasting, sweet and warming finish, has a H U G E chewy body and zero carbonation. Fucken genius this is.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Mar 2025
at 11:58
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle, 750 ml, shared with kajser27, Max and Miro B. Black and oily with almost no head. Chocolate and tad vinous, dark fruit. No carbonation. Somewhat thick, but not full bodied. Medium bodied.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Aug 2022
at 21:02
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
75cl Bottle @ Ratebeer Odense Tasting, January 2022. Pours Black with a beige head. Fading small bubbles left. Deep port. Vinous. Chocolate and roast. Raisin and Dark dried fruit. Soft. Low carbonation. Sipper
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jan 2022
at 21:33
8/10
Black with a tiny off-white head. Aroma of chocolate, vanilla, oak and dried fruit. Sweet roasted flavour with chocolate, caramel and dried fruit.
Tried
on 12 Jan 2022
at 21:27
8.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 9
Bottle. CW online. Oily black. No head. Nose has dark chocolate. Chocolate cherry truffle. Touch of cinnamon like spice. Port. Some boozy seasonal cake. Taste is less sweet than imagined, with an ashy and woody character. Smooth and slick, sticky lipped mouthfeel. Very fine carbonation. Lingering rich cherry truffle finish. Domed the whole 750 no bother.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Nov 2021
at 22:51