Cask, Ship and Mitre, Liverpool. Dark reddy brown colour with a small beige head. Aroma fairly standard malts with some roasted coffee notes. Flavour was slightly sweet, with some chocolate notes and a slight bitterness. Drinkable if underwhelming. Point off for celebrating kiddie mauling dogs too.

Cask (handpump) @ The Fat Cat, Sheffield, Bedfordshire England S3 8GG. On RateBeer Sheffield "Valley of beer" Crawl 2008. Clear dark red brown color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, beige head. Aroma is moderate to light heavy malty, roasted, coffee. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet, moderate bitter and sour with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. (260708)

Cask on the Sheffield, on RateBeer Valley of Beer Crawl ’08 ...deep red black,soft malts little roast,smooth soft roast little chocolte. fat cat

Cask at the Trip to Jerusalem, Nottingham. I have to disagree with the previous rating - this was an excellent stout. Black with a thin dense creame head and a tawny brown clour when held to the light; sweet and creamy to start with licorice and chocolate flavours, then compeltely changing character with a intensely dry finish with lots of coffee grounds and gravel; the aroma reminds me of warm engine oil. Excellent.

2 draught pints at Redbones on 3/6/07, about 27 hours from initial tapping.
Very strange head formation/retention. Extremely aerated, large-bubbled, dark-tan head is initially large, but fades steadily to partial cover, leaving only marginal lacing and a slight film on the glass. Deep, cocoa-powder black liquid shows a medium clarity with maroon tints on the edges. Beer is bright, despite its very dark color making it look not so.
Served very, very cold to start (the heat was broken in the bar area), there wasnt much discernable aroma. But of course, letting it warm, proved advatageous as always. Eventually, bakers chocolate, light cocoa powder and bits of creamy-sweet malt and vanilla emerge. Moderate fruitiness (esters of cherry, apple, strawberry) lightens the mood significantly while the slightest edge of roast/coffee nips at the finish. Strong doughy yeast is rather bland and quite noticeable. Moderate oxidation really highlights the black malts giving some slight ashiness and madeira. Sweet base malts stick with the aroma, however, and never allow it to get very dry and certainly not astringent or overly dull. Medium strength of aroma, no alcohol or flaws (other than the fair bit of yeastiness, but that’s to be expected, somewhat).
What I got from the flavor, above all else, was a sense of "wow, this is like a toned down Imperial Stout". It’s pretty sad that, with the current brewing trend mindset towards "big beers", I think of this as a toned down Imperial stout instead of just a stout. It’s as if Imperial stouts have become the standard and lower gravity stouts are just a variation of those. Ok, moving on.
It really does portray everything pleasant about this style. Light nuttiness, with creamy vanilla-honey and caramel malts, all well-integrated and soft on the palate, open things up, growing quickly chocolatey (dark chocolate, cocoa powder) and with light vanilla liqueur-like flavors emerging on a finish that is brushed with lightly salty char. Really nice interplay of soft/crunchy textures and sweet and dry flavors. With extended warming, strong fruitiness emerges in the middle mixing with vanilla that gives it a very distinct cherry-vanilla flavor. Contrast this with the chocolate and you’ve got one heck of a fun drink. What it dosent have is any palate fatiguing sugariness, hop bitterness/acidity, syrupy maltiness or harsh/strong alcohol. Of course, conversely, it’s rather watery, especially with the moderate oxidation it shows at this point. But you know what? Who says wateriness is a flaw in beer?? Especially mid gravity cask conditioned, sessionable beer. I’ll certainly vouch for it being a desirable aspect. Loved this stuff, could drink it all day. Lots of nutty/bland yeastiness apparent that was rather unwanted, but very solid other than that.

(Cask at Oliver Twist, Stockholm, 10 Dec) Black colour with frothy, beige head. Roasted (almost burnt), malty nose with notes of ashes, black coffee, blueberries and peat smoke. Roasted/burnt taste with wet ashes, black coffee, crowberries and not so shy amounts of citrussy hops in the finish. Rather dry, with hints of sourness (in the Burton Bridge house style). I wouldn’t call it very balanced, rather complex, interesting and a very tasty stout. (10/7/7/8/7.5=7.6) Rerate: (Cask at Craft Beer Co Covent Garden, London, 31 May 2025) Dark brown colour with frothy, beige head. Malty, roasted nose with chocolate, coffee and dark bread. Malty, roasted taste with notes of chocolate, coffee, dark bread and a balanced roasty bitterness in the finish. Medium body, with a touch of sweetness. Well balanced stout. Nice one.

Cask handpull at Chambers, Folkestone. Black beer with bubbly lasting beige head. Choc aroma with some sourness. Velvet choc in mouth with liquorice sourness on finish. Choc does dominate but the sourness balances it. Almost Pontefract cake-like on end. An interesting stout with good intensity and definition of flavours

Cask conditioned
Opaque ruby, good foamy expresso head. Nose is well hoppied with berry-like aroma. Medium-bodied porter-like palate. Hoppy, long bitter aftertaste. Earthy, mould flavor.

Sea air aroma with a bitter watery flavour. A plain black beer, which is not brilliant.