Breakfast Stout

Brewery: Founders Brewing Co.

Supplier: Beers of Europe

I thought I would do something special for my 100th review and so I chose Founders famous Double Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout. It is a seasonal beer produced to be available between October and December using two types of chocolate, bitter and imported, and two types of coffee Sumatra and Kona. I served this at room temperature.

Appearance: Completely pitch black with a thin mocha head that dissipates quickly.

Aroma: Deep roasted coffee notes, like smelling a bag of coffee beans, with hints of chocolate on the back.

Flavour: Tastes like smooth dark chocolate, the types that have underlying coffee notes.

Body: So incredibly thick and smooth, almost like one of those thick European hot chocolates.

Aftertaste: This leads into a more pronounced coffee note, later leading into slightly less pleasant green and iron notes.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 8, an exceptionally nice beer to drink, although there are a few notes that are slightly unpleasant, and the thickness does become too much. Would be better with a slight chill on it, and needs to be at a time when you are ready for such a thick beer.

Price Range: £3.59 for a 355ml bottle, worth it.

Food Pairings: To be honest this is so thick and full that I would not suggest having it with anything.

Ogham Willow

Brewery: The Celt Experience

Supplier: Beers of Europe

So I ran out of time to do this one with the others and was going to do it the day after but had to go into hospital, sooooo I'm doing it today. Continuing from the horizontal tasting of the Ogham range, having previously done Oak and Ash. This is their American IPA, dry hopping with potent US hops.  Its namesake Willow is the wood that represents spiritual visions to understand the world. I served this chilled.

Appearance: A slightly ambered gold colour with a very thin white head, there is also lots of large particles floating around which I did not see whilst pouring (and I can usually tell when I'm pouring dregs, which leads me to believe the were already suspended.

Aroma: Lots of fresh lime hops and a hint of melon and sweet malt in the back.

Flavour: Initially sweet hop resin followed by a strong hoppy bitterness and a bit of skunk. The hop resin flavour starts to dominate and couple with some malt sweetness with drinking

Body: Very thick and syrupy but this goes well.

Aftertaste: A bit more of the off skunky flavour and still a lot of bitterness the tastes green, some floury notes develop from the malt with drinking.

Overall: Therefore this gets a rating of 6, a nice big hoppy beer but with a few off flavours that aren't particularly nice and nothing special flavour wise. Knocked from 7 due to the bits and the off flavours

Price Range: £2.99 for a 330ml bottle, an OK price.

Food Pairings: Some salty gammon with a relatively sweet gravy, along with some roasted potatoes