3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Cask (gravity dispense) at Pigs Ear Beer Festival (Day 1) on 6 December 2011. Almost black. The description said "full of festive spices" and they weren’t kidding. Seems like a pretty decent stout underneath but compromised for me by rather excessive spicing. Cloves in particular. You either like spice bombs or you don’t. They are not really to my taste. Very creamy mouthfeel.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle from Mr Lawrence Wine Merchants, Brockley. Black pour with a tan head. Licorice, coffee and caramel aroma. Creamy coffee and chocolate flavour. Dry, malty after-taste.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask - The Southampton Arms, London. A deep opaque brown/black beer that poured with a fine & loose fading creamy beige to light tan head. Cinnamon & clove with dark berries on the nose. Lots of sweet & tangy berry flavours with cinnamon & clove again to coat the palate. Medium body, creamy & smooth mouthfeel with a lingering spiciness thoug a delicate bitterness. A touch of coffee & oatiness in the aftertaste. Not especially oaty, certainly not what I anticipated when I ordered it - some light background choccy oatiness beneath all that spice - but nice enough as it goes.
1.5 AROMA 3/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 2/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 4/20
Cadk handpull at The Southampton Arms. Way too much spice. Oh god please way too much clove. I wanna die right now. Why didnt i order the magic rock curious. my god it only improves slightly on second gulp. Too much clove.
2.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Cask conditioned Handpump The Rake London. A black beer with an off-white head. Way too much clove in this; particularly in the mouth. Cinnamon and clove in the nose are acceptable but then it becomes a bit like a bad mouthwash or a cinnamon toothpaste. Any stouty or oatmeally flavours are banished by the spices. Scale it down a bit boys!
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Cask at Pig’s Ear Beer Festival, London. Really black. Heavy cardamom and nutmeg aroma. Sweet and doughy with full body, rounded mouthfeel.. Marzipan and christmas buns, some ginger. warming finish with some treacle. Interesting, but all the spices get a bit much.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Cask@Pigs Ear Beer Festival 2011. Black colour, small beigeish brown head. Aroma is cinnamon, clove, roasted malts, liquorice and some slight herbal notes. Flavour is liquorice, a bunch of Xmas spices and mild roasted notes.
2.6 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Cask at Southampton Arms. Dark brown almost black colour with oily looking orange beige head. Looks potent. Aroma is very much full on and weird. Quite spicy, bit floral, lots of cinnamon and clove. A bit off-putting to be honest. Taste is similar but mellows a bit down the glass. Quite a winter warmer taste, and gets increasingly malty. Bit of bitter chocolate and lots of weird spice still. Touch of coffee. Texture is pretty oily and quite thick. Bit of a struggle to finish the pint.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask, gravity at Pigs Ear Beer Festival, Hackney, London, 06.12.11 Pours black with a light beige head. Full of nutmeg and cinnammon and as Chris rightly pointed out also a lot of clove in fact I guess that it is the clove that is responsible for this slightly numbing feeling. In truth this is far too heavily spiced, however I rather like it, its a one trick pony and it will be far too much for some, but it has made me think of Christmas and so I suppose in that sense it has achieved part of its objective. A6 A4 A7 P3 Ov13 3.3
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