Aroma and Appearance: It poured a very dark brown colour with a thin finger of foam and no visible bubbles. The aroma immediately blasted me with dark chocolate and espresso a once I got near to the glass, followed by closer quaffs of caramel, molasses and what I can only describe as fudge brownie batter.

Flavour: This is really chocolaty up front, chocolate malt forward with caramel and licorice root to make an interesting first impression. In the middle I noticed its molasses thickness with some typical whiskey barrel vanilla notes and a somewhat sticky overall texture. Finally, the finish is big and fudgy with some oak here and there, but really just loads of fudgy brownies and traditional chocolate fudge as it goes down.

Overall Impression: I like my Russian Imperial Stouts thick and syrupy like this, it’s a pretty neat drink that had way more chocolate than I recall tasting in the cask version I tried at a cask fest which was noticeably toastier that this one.

Rating: Excellent at 8.5/10, enjoy now and cellar a couple for a few years to see how they develop.

Food Pairing: Salted caramel cookies or wafers would be great with this one.

Here the brewers were getting ready to pull this and their Barleywine (and perhaps more) out of the barrels from their brewery! I had a brief chat with Graham about this beer during a recent cask festival and they were very pleased with the results of their centrifuged beer that made it into the barrels; to which I have to agree both the one’s I tried have been very nice.