Tap at Royston. Presumably intended as a DIPA but coming off more as an American barleywine, and quite a good one at that! The incredibly rich malt is the feature here, hops are well and truly present, but hardly dominant.
Hazy orange with a decent white head. Hoppy aroma but not distinctly so, in fact it’s probably skewed more towards rich, caramelly malt. Some apricot/peach esters too. It may well be dry-hopped but it doesn’t really give that impression, the hop character is very integrated and ’cooked’ tasting, as opposed to fresh and resiny. Incredible rich, sticky malt flavour layered with caramel/toffee and milky Hagelslag. Citrusy hop flavour with a bit of weediness, bitterness never really breaks the malt hegemony. A little bit of salty, soapy alcohol character, but not enough to spoil the experience. Otherwise the mouthfeel is really rich. It’s a shame it’s not bottled so I can age some and see if the soapiness subsides. Really enjoyable stuff - good onya to Jamieson for having the guts to experiment - please brew more and bottle it!
Tap at The Local. Gotta knock this down a couple of points (3.9->3.6) - this time it was soapy/boozy enough to detract from the experience. Densely hazy with a great thick head and nice lacing. Aroma is still good, and the malt character is truly impressive (fudge and honeycomb just like regular Beast) but the salty, soapy booziness (without being hot) made it hard going towards the end of the glass. Didn’t help that it was served at about -0C either.