這是上次在倫敦The Kernel酒廠買的最後一瓶佳釀了--完美的句點。周六要去補貨，順便找台灣朋友釀酒師李駿喝一杯，八卦一下！

The Kernel, Imperial Brown Stout - London 1856, 9.9%abv. (Russian Imperial Stout)

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London, bottle-conditioned in a 330ml brown bottle, bottled on 02/01/13, BB 02/01/17, served cool in Gulden Draak’s branded short-stemmed tulip-shaped sniffer. Note: This is the second Russian Imperial Stout I’ve tried from this microbrewery, the first one being the no-longer-available “Imperial Stout”, clocked at 12.5%abv. It was good, but very heavy indeed. Let’s see how this slightly lighter version fares…

4/5 Appearance: the colour comes pitch black, topped with a creamy but not tight frothy dark-tan head with okay retention, while the carbonation level is unknown.

4/5 Smell: the smell is that of a modern take on the style, that it’s dominated by gristy black malts, roasted barley, bitter chocolates, vanilla-ish cocoa, smoked beans, and creamy cold coffee, underlined by a light tinge of hop aroma from perhaps a more traditional hop variety. A very good swirl brings up the warming alc. sandwiched b/w winey fruitiness and decent salted-sourness as of black date preserve and preserved hawthorn fruits. Potent, with a decent degree of complexity at play.

4.25/5 Taste: medium-bodied on the initial swallow, the flavour is immediately chewy burned- and brown- malty with light hints of estery banana oil, while the warming alc. is well hidden behind the ensuing wave of roast coffee beans, highly bitter chocolates, crushed burned walnuts, (faint) treacle, and (even lighter) hints of jammy dark fruits, then giving way to a solid profile of highly bitter earthy hoppiness; as the bitterness settles, the taste leads onto a lengthy, chewy-woody, aromatic nutty and burned aftertaste. From the start to the end, in each sip I simply fail to pick up overly warming alc., a sign that the beer is very well composed and the ageing potential truly can be very good from the outset of this batch (considering it’s only 2.5 months old upon consumption).

4.25/5 Mouthfeel & 4.25/5 Overall: the mouthfeel remains smooth, fairly rounded, not quite heavy-bodied yet befitting the overall flavour profile just well. As said above, this one definitely tastes more like a modern RIS, despite a suspicion that the subtitle “London 1856” on the label might suggest the recipe dates back to that age(?). For, a level of staleness typical of a robust, aged dark/pale ale back then is not shown enough in this bottle; not like Harvey’s interpretation of the olden style, for instance. But all in all this is a balanced, successful take on the style; the hop profile is not so much “in the face” like many American counterparts, but the bitterness level is substantial enough to effect a good balance vis-à-vis the heavy roast malts and render a satisfying finish in each every sip I’ve taken. Will grab a few more bottles this weekend and age them for consumption over the next five years!

--Yau (20/03/2013)