這名為 Export Stout (London 1890)的酒，是The Kernel極少數常態釀造發售的酒款之一，而且據說是挖出前東倫敦楚門『黑鷹』(Truman "Black Eagle")酒廠於1890年記載的酒譜，依樣畫葫蘆、老調新彈的詮釋。相隔兩年嚐的兩瓶，配方應當一樣，但批次不同，成品的酒精濃度有個0.6%abv.的差距；這樣的品飲筆記，可能只能當作個案檢視處理，不過兩次都很滿意！

Kernel Brewery, Export Stout London 1890 (Export Stout)

Bottle-Conditioned Version, Batch 7.2%abv.

* Tasting Date: 01/04/2013

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London recently; bottle-conditioned in a 330ml brown bottle, bottled on 09/01/2013, BB 09/01/2015. Served cool in Gulden Draak’s branded tulip-shaped short-stemmed sniffer.

4/5 Appearance: the colour comes pitch black, a creamy and tight dark tan head sustains well, on top of very mild carbonation as far as my eyesight can manage.

4/5 Smell: robustly roasty, coffee-ish and also jammy prune-ish without an assertive edge of sourness, very pleasant; a swirl brings up the more complex elements mixed of herbal hops, burned walnuts, treacle, bitter cocoa and oily espresso (with lovely crèma on top… my imagination!), while licorice, old leather and a fine tinge of citric hop fruitiness stays firmly in the background.

4/5 Taste: fairly smooth on the palate, the foretaste is bitter cocoa and burned nutty, edged by a whiff of vanilla as well as black prunes and dried berry fruits (not unlike raisins as such) with very very mild fruity sourness; smoothly developing into a rather moderately-flavoured and moderately bitter-sweet, liquidy aftertaste mixed of licorice-flavoured coffee, burned nuts and aroma of roasted barley, while grapey&citric fruity hoppiness manifests itself in a very subtly aromatic manner.

4/5 Mouthfeel & 4/5 Overall: perhaps due to the bottle-conditioning the way it is, the mouthfeel is quite… quiet and smooth (lacking carbonation, that is), rather light-bodied for a 7.2%abv. strong stout, without an apparent presence of warming alc.; this Export Stout or Strong Stout or Stout Porter in whatever style, shows very decent, harmonious combination of malts, roasted barley and a good amount of hops in the brew. Comparing this bottle with my previous notes, it seems the beer is only smoother and more rounded, yet equally dangerously delicious and quaffable~~

Bottle-Conditioned Version, Batch 7.8%abv.

* Tasting Date: 01/01/2011

Purchased at the Kernel Brewery in London recently; bottle-conditioned in a 330ml brown bottle, with no best before date printed on the beer label. Served cool in Hapkin’s tulip-shaped short-stemmed sniffer.

4/5 Appearance: pours a pitch black body with quite fine carbonation; the tan frothy head sustains for about two minutes then retreats to a rim and lasts.

3.5/5 Smell: deeply roasty with plenty of notes of cold espresso and burned malts, plus bitter chocolates (slightly powdery), root herbs such as licorice and a touch of old stinky leather. A fine note of vanilla at times shines through as does an edge of esters from most strong ales, but all in all the nose is deeply, nicely roasty.

4/5 Taste: light-bodied and pleasantly bitter-sweet upfront, reminiscent of coffee, burned walnuts and charred wood, underlined by a faint touch of fruity esters and a very very mild but lingering lease of hop bitterness manifesting itself in the aftertaste; the finish comes quite aromatic (burned-nutty/-woody), lightly chewy, with but a faint touch of warming alc.

4/5 Mouthfeel & 4/5 Overall: pretty soft, lightly carbonated, and the palate is really light for a 7.8%abv. strong stout. I find this an extremely quaffable and well-made stout, though there’s nothing in the bottle that truly “hooks” my palate to this ale.

--Yau (tasted 01/01/2011, notes transcribed 01/04/2013, revisited 01/04/2013)