BrewDog Cake Cartel

Ooh I wanted to try this hazelnut stout from BrewDog as soon as I heard about it and it did not disappoint.  This is definitely one for the sweet toothed beer drinker.

It's a very dark brown stout with a small, rapidly vanishing tan head that doesn't leave a single bubble behind, giving it a very disappointingly flat appearance.  It makes up for it in the wonderful aroma though - it's as sweet as candy with notes of malt, caramel, milk chocolate and raspberry jam.

It tastes like liquid chocolate cake with a huge helping of malt, a dash of candy floss and a sprinkling of nuts.  It leaves a lovely sweetness of the lips and it's very moreish, although it doesn't taste as nutty as I expected.  Brewed with lactose, it's a very smooth stout with low carbonation and a full body.

This is a lovely rich, dark, sweet pastry stout and it tastes exactly as would expect from the can.  If it hadn't lost its head so quickly and tasted a bit more nutty, it would've been a five star beer but for taste alone, Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by BrewDog, Ellon, Aberdeenshire 
6% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.25/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

Stewart Brewing Cocoa-Nut

I love chocolate and I love stout so I snapped up this chocolate and hazelnut stout when I saw it in Lidl's beer festival.

It has a traditional stout appearance with a black velvet body and a small tan head that leaves a patchy layer when it settles.  It smells incredibly nutty and I could smell them as soon as I opened the can.  Underneath the nutty aroma there are delicious notes of chocolate, malt and even more nuts.

The taste is deliciously dark with loads of malt and hints of chocolate and liquorice.  The chocolate is dark and slightly bitter and there's no prizes for guessing the aftertaste: it's nuts!  It has a lovely full body and medium carbonation, giving it a relatively smooth mouthfeel that I like to see in a stout.

With an ABV of 7.1%, it's a very rich and decadent stout.  The dark chocolate bitterness is a little bit too much for me as I don't really like dark chocolate but the nuttiness is amazing and it tastes like it says on the can.  It's definitely one I'd recommend trying and Ale Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Stewart Brewing, Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland
7.1% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Stewart Brewing

BrewDog Zombie Cake

 

I love praline chocolates so I was desperate to get my hands on a bottle of Zombie Cake, BrewDog's praline chocolate porter but I have to say I was a little disappointed.

It's a very dark brown ale with a semi-tight robust beige head that leaves a good layer behind when it disperses.  The smell is amazing!  It does actually smell like praline with notes of nuts, chocolate, malt and treacle.  The nuttiness is lost in the taste though and I couldn't taste any nuts at all unfortunately.  The flavour is roasted malt, coffee and chocolate with the coffee lingering in the aftertaste.  Notes of chocolate do burst through at times but definitely no nuts for me.

It has a medium body and it's quite softly carbonated so it is very easy to drink.  It's a lovely porter but I don't think it's anything special.  It's definitely worth trying but Ale Not Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by BrewDog Brewery, Ellon, Aberdeenshire
5% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.75/5

Find out more at BrewDog Brewery

S43 You're Not You When You're Thirsty

I bought two cans of You're Not You When You're Thirsty and drank them 10 months apart.  Whilst both experiences were quite similar, I do feel that the nutty flavour was intensified in the can I'd kept for a while.

This boozy 9% imperial peanut butter fudge stout pours a very dark brown with a small, loose tan head.  The head does shrink quite rapidly but it leaves a decent foam layer.  There doesn't appear to be much sediment in the can but I did leave a little bit behind just in case.

Oh my goodness the nutty aroma is simply mouthwatering.  The aroma of nuts coupled with chocolate and caramel does actually make it smell like a Snickers bar.  The taste is where I found the biggest difference between my two cans.  My first impression (of the fresh can) was that it was lovely but not really nutty enough whereas the second can was perfect and tasted like it said on the tin.

It's a lovely imperial stout with flavours of chocolate, bonfire toffee, treacle, and fudge with a sprinkling or good handful of nuts, depending on how fresh you drink it.  It's well balanced, with chocolate and toffee tipping the scales towards sweet at first but bringing it back to the centre with the added nuttiness.

Well carbonated with sweet sticky bubbles of fudginess, it's so full bodied that it's almost syrupy and it actually clings to the glass leaving a brown pearlescent sheen behind - if only I could have got my tongue right in!

This is an amazing imperial stout from S43 and I've loved everything I have had from them so far.  It's really something special and there is absolutely no hint of alcohol in the taste which is unusual for such a high ABV.  It's so very moreish that it's surprisingly easy to drink and if it's brewed again (under a different name so Mars don't get upset), Ale definitely Be Seeing You.

Brewed by S43 Brewery, Durham
9% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4.75/5

Find out more at S43 Brewery

John Smith's Original

I do like a bitter and John Smith's is my go-to cheap as chips beer if I find myself in a pub with a poor choice of real ales.  Pubs serve the John Smith's extra smooth variety, which is in the green can, but when Amazon pantry had a 4 pack of original for £1.75 I couldn't check out fast enough.  So at just under 44p per can, let's see what I thought.

I love the colour of this, it's a clear chestnut brown ale with a frothy and loose cream coloured head.  The head disappears quite quickly, leaving a patchy foam layer.  The aroma is pretty uninspiring; it's more metallic than anything else with an underlying dirty water smell.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  I kept the faith as John Smith's had never failed me!

It definitely pulled its socks up in the taste.  It's so easy to drink with delicate notes of sweet malts and bitter hops along with a delicious nutty flavour.  It's light, fizzy and so very easy to drink.  I do think I prefer the John Smith's Smooth but I'm glad I tried this one; indeed who wouldn't try it for the amazing bargainous price I paid?

John Smith's is my not so guilty pleasure and I'm not ashamed to say Ale Be Seeing You Again!

Brewed by John Smith's Brewery, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire
3.6% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.75/5

Find out more at John Smith's Brewery

Belhaven Scottish Ale

When I poured Belhaven's Scottish Ale I hoped that it tasted as good as it looked and I'm delighted to say that it far exceeded my expectations.  It's such a beautiful chestnut brown colour, slightly hazy, with a thick frothy beige coloured head.

It has such a mouthwatering aroma of sweet malt and nutty biscuits with both flavours being replicated in the taste, along with notes of caramel and buttered bread.  The creamy buttery nutty taste melts on the tongue and is followed by a slightly quirky bitter aftertaste that I can only describe as licking stamps, which I rather strangely enjoy.  It's a full bodied ale with a decent amount of carbonation to give a little tongue tickle with each mouthful.

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did and there's only one negative thing I about it: it was only in a 330ml bottle and like Oliver Twist, I wanted more!  It's a good quality ale that scores near to top marks on my palate.  I love a strong malty flavour so this hits the spot for me and Ale Be Seeing You Again!

Brewed by Belhaven, Dunbar, Scotland
5.2% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Belhaven Brewery