Pint on tap at Basement Brewhouse, Bankstone. Black beer with foamy tan coloured head. Nose of cocoa and sweet chocolate. A little spritz. Flavour and finish are lightly bitter with an underlying caramel sweetness. Very late bitter fruit. Perfectly acceptable but not as sweet as I like in a sweet stout.

Bottle. Very dark brown with a tan head that’s soon a coat. Aroma of fudgy mocha, vanilla, blackberries. Fullish bodied with low carbonation makes it quite silky. Whilst quite sweet and certainly in the dessert mould, there’s firm to strong bitterness (which I liked) that never seems too much because it doesn’t get dry or ashy at the end. Berries, mocha, hints of licorice. Slightly woody with heady vanilla at the end, but couldn’t really say whether the bottled version has been in a whisky barrel or not (this is not a criticism). Runs sweeter and a little less roasty than I’d prefer, but it’s very well done.

640mL bottle, pours black with a small beige head. Nose brings out a good mix of roasted malt and piney hops - pretty typical for the style. Flavour is surprisingly easy-drinking for the style, with robust roasted malt and piney hops in good balance. No harshness at all. Very nicely done.

Pours amber with a fading head.Nose shows heavy clean malt along with resinous piny hops by the truckload.Flavours include piny hops along with heavy sweet clean malt.

Pours brown with a large head.Nose shows toasty and nutty malt, some soft roasted malt and bit of a cardboard note.Flavours include toasty, nutty and roasted malt.Carbonation is much too high.

Near black. Has a whack of bourbon and stouty choc roast richness. Hit of alcohol, sweetish malty richness. It is basically what you would expect but that’s ok.