Vanilla- and coconut-flavoured strong stout aged on rye barrels, a collaboration of two of Europe's craft beer superstars: Põhjala in Estonia and Lervig in Norway. It is hard to see what can go wrong with these giants collaborating, but let us remain unbiased, of course - thanks Meeki for sharing this treat... Yellowish off-beige, tiny-bubbled, open and dissolving head on a black robe with hazy burgundy edges. Aroma of chocolate liqueur, vanilla beans, oak wood, toffee, something minty, toasted pecan, muscovado sugar, toasted coconut rather than actual coconut 'milk' (fortunately perhaps), fondant, Belgian chocolate ganache, latté macchiato, whisky. Dense, sweet onset, thick candied date and blackberry coulis hints, medium to softish carb, very full and oily mouthfeel - yet far less thick than one might expect at this strength due to an 'alcohol thinning' effect. Layered toffee, fondant-chocolate, chocolate chip and latte maltiness, sweet but not overly so and softly bittering as well, whilst adorned with beautifully desserty vanilla and coconut aromas - the first quite obvious, the latter more in a hidden, toasty kind of way (subtle enough so that my girlfriend, who hates coconut in stouts, may even appreciate it), moving into a bittersweet, dark and intense finish, where nutty, toffeeish and chocolatey flavours linger under slight peppery hoppiness, tannic woodiness and very obvious whisky-flavoured booziness - the rye of course, which in the end comes on too strong for me. Had this one been a tad less boozy, it would have gained in balance and mouthfeel - as is ever so often the case with collabs, I think the sum of the two is still less than two, and either of these two breweries possibly would have done it even better alone. That said, this is still a very impressive stout so I guess I am merely nitpicking here... Cheers to both Põhjala and Lervig, in any case!

Sample, thanks oh6gdx! Black, small beige head. Aroma of chocolate cake with whiskey and vanilla. Very sweet with full body and rounded mouthfeel. Sugared vanilla. Evident whiskey. Fundamentally well made, but too much chocolate cake, and the vanilla cloys as always. Peppery bitter finish.

A black beer, a head is med and light brown. Aroma has caramel, toffee, barrel bourbon, light liquorice.... feels sweet. Taste has caramel, richness, light bourbon. Full bodied, hint of stickyness. Enough f richness, but of course too sweet. Good beer, anyway.