UPDATED: JUL 29, 2022 Bottle. A gift from Totnes. The person not the place. Clear deep chestnut red. Nicely thick beige foam. Nose has slightly rubbery malts. Ash. Some vinous notes. Taste is dry ashy and lightly bitter. Medium body. Foamy carbonation. Dry vinous finish.

UPDATED: JUL 6, 2022 500ml bottle from Co-Op, York (£1.99): Dark brown to mahogany with a few bubbles through the body & a thin, bubbly lacing for a head that's light tan & patchy on the surface. Dark chocolate malts & roasted notes, plenty of sweetness with subtle caramel & molasses too; it smells better than it looks thankfully. More malts & chocolate with the taste, it's sweet & the body is lively with good carbonation but it's maybe a touch thin. There's some toffee & caramel coming through with a few darker fruits in the background, then a bitter & malty finish; surprisingly good given how bad it poured.

UPDATED: MAY 28, 2022 Looks almost black in the glass, with reddish hints if seen through light. 1 and a half fingers of greyish head: pretty dense, not much lacing and relatively quick at dissipating. A semi-soft aroma has a base of dark bread, dark malts acidity and lightly roasted malts, with light notes of coffee and some fruit cake notes. Nicely defined, average intensity. Taste shows a relatively soft dark malts base (let's say halfway in between a standard stout and a milk stout), with gentle roasted notes, a bit of dark malts acidity, light notes of coffee and chocolate, hints of fruit cake. Good sweet/bitter balance with none standing out. Light to medium bodied with quite low carbonation, resulting in an easy, half smooth half soft mouthfeel. Overall a pleasant drink.

UPDATED: SEP 12, 2021 Bottle from House of Trembling Madness, online. Pours a very dark brown, small beige head Aroma is semi-sweet, roasted malts, lots of chocolate. Simple but nice. Taste again has a roastiness with a lovely moreish chocolate malt, some coffee bitterness in the finish with an hoppy tang to it. Light to medium bodied matched by the right amount of carbonation zing. Its a very good porter, not overly complex but well brewed. Certainly no nightmare.

UPDATED: SEP 1, 2021 Bottle- dark reddish brown with thick creamy tan head. Good lacing. Strong chocolate and roasted malts aroma. Good mouthfeel. Chocolate, liquorice with the roasted malts - nicely matched - good finish. Easy drinking - nice beer.

UPDATED: JUL 2, 2021 Cask at Smithfield, Derby – as Hambleton Nightmare Porter. Pours a dark reddish brown with a small cream head. Aroma is mainly roasted malts with hints of chocolate. In the mouth the texture is slightly watery, but there is plenty of flavour. Dark fruits, liquorice and aniseed plus some chocolate and sweet malts. Finish is quite dry. This is pretty good all round – more please !

UPDATED: JUN 2, 2021 Bottle from House Of Trembling Madness. Clear ruby/brown with a beige head. Good lacing. Aroma of chocolate, ash and vanilla. Flavour of milk chocolate and roasted malt. Medium body with a smooth texture. Soft fizz. Well rounded and easy to drink.

UPDATED: MAY 20, 2021 Poured from 500ml bottle at 5.0% abv. Aroma: Dark barley malt, milk and dark chocolate, dark fruit, coffee. Appearance: Pours almost black with small, quickly dissipating beige-light brown head. Taste: Mocha, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, dark malt, slight liquorice, sweet finish. Mouthfeel: Smooth, maybe slightly oily with medium-heavy body and soft carbonation. Overall: Enjoyable English stout, rich malty, bitter and sweet flavours. Best when cool, not ice cold, in glass.

UPDATED: APR 21, 2021 This is a backlog rating from 2007 from a bottle shared by Matt, from notes. When I had this beer it was average to below average for the style and not something I wanted to have again or I just didn't get back to my notes because of my technology at the time, work and/or family. Words to describe this beer are roasted malts, chocolate, dark berries, anise, thin, decent.

UPDATED: APR 7, 2021 Aroma : Roasty chocolate maltiness, spent coffee grounds with a light earty note. Taste : Fullish body, with a slight oily-smooth texture. Despite the claim in the brewers note the initial taste is a strong bitter roastiness... not that there's anything wrong with that. The chocolate malt is the dominant flavour with just a little coffee in the background. Excellent!