Bottled. A dark red beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of malt and caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, caramel, and fruit, leading to a dry and bitter finish.

Dark brown color. Liquorice, dark chocolate and lots of roasted malts.light bodied. Lingering roasty finish.

Pours pale amber with a quickly fading head.Nose shows restrained floral and fruity notes along with faint grainy malt.Flavours include sweet light malt with grainy notes and a soft, light bitterness.Could use more carbonation.Pretty dumbed down.

From a 345 ml bottle on 7/9/2011. Bottle says the ABV is 4.2%, not 4.7%. Pours a very light, slightly cloudy golden with a smallish head. Has only a slight aroma of grain and the tiniest hint of fruit. The flavour is also reasonably subdued, but definitely an improvement on the aroma. It’s moderately sweet and fruity with some honey notes. Finishes off with a modest bitterness. Fairly typical of the Squire’s range - decent and drinkable, but a long way from exciting. Would be a good candidate for a session.

Pours black with a large, tan head.Nose shows roasty, bready and grainy malt. Not much going on. Some coffee.Flavours are rather sweet, quite sugary. Nice roasty character, although it seems pretty watery. You have to search a bit for the liquorice (well apart from the sugary character).

From a 330ml bottle on 17/7/2011. Pours pale yellow with a bit of a head (looks like a pale lager). Has a mild fruity yeasty aroma typical of the Belgian style. Tastes fruity, spicy and a little peppery. A decent attempt at a Belgian style ale.

From a 640ml bottle on 15/7/2011. Pours mahogany with a small head. I don’t know why this has been labelled an imperial stout. It’s just a standard stout. The aroma is mild, with some chocolate, chico baby, and a touch of roastiness. Flavour wise, this is sweet and chocolatey, with a mild roasty hop kick. Not terrible but fairly unremarkable.

Bottle. Very black with nice dense big long-lived tan head. Pleasant interesting aroma with vanilla, chocolate, pear-drops. Lovely creamy full body with moderate but fine carbonation. The flavour is interesting with a lot going on. It starts sweet with chocolately and slightly smokey notes with a cleaner more refreshing middle and long finish that is a mix of dark malt, smokey and coffee tastes with liquorice. Overall, I liked it, finding it an interesting and unusual beer that pushes some boundaries. I understand where others’ more negative comments are coming from. If you are expecting a good standard stout, this is not it. I don’t however see it as dumbed down for a mass market - I can’t see it appealing to that market. Interesting and unusual - and with a well hidden high alcohol content.

Bottle, 10C. Black with a light tan head that fades to a fat coat. Aroma of caramel, berries, licorice, mild roast, mocha. Taste is sweet with butterscotch, licorice and chocolate. Some roasted bitterness, some grassy hop bitterness, but the finish is mostly butterscotch and licorice. A bit of pepper come in at the end. A little overcarbonated but improves with a swirl to give a creamy mouthfeel. Hides the alcohol completely - a little too well for what it’s trying to be. I didn’t mind the licorice at first but it really came to be too much after 300ml or so. Not terrible, but the twist is overbold and the underlying stout is a bit timid.

Bottle. Clear golden with no head. Pleasant aroma with mix of sweet toffee, fruit, principally bananas and spice. Medium body with lovely fine carbonation and an almost oily finish. Nice complex flavour, starting with a peppery spiciness and toffee with hints of raisins and bananas and finishing with long gentle bitter and spice flavours. Overall, a very decent take on a Belgian abbey beer.