The first stout is a porter and is my third beer from the Williams Brothers Brewery in Scotland. Midnight Sun is the name. There is a slight twist to this beer in that it contains a "wee bit of fresh root ginger". The smell is of a typical but rich porter/stout. Chocolate, coffee etc but the ginger is hiding in the background and like a ninja it makes itself known at the last moment before you know its there.In the mouth it acts like a typical good quality stout. Roast coffee, a little toffee and maybe some caramel but the roast grains dominate and the finish is a lovely roast and bitter affair with a little ginger spice. The ginger is very subtle, subtle in the way that you can barely tell it is there but the question I ask myself is, would I miss it if it was not there at all? It is hard to say but I think it might add just a little bit of something to the end that turns this good porter in to a fantastic porter.
I love it. More please.
From Scotland we move south to England and a stout I have hear a lot about. I enjoyed many other Hook Norton beers so I was looking forward to this. As a stout, and as the only stout to drink on a given day this is fine. However this did not live up to the Midnight sun, this did not live up to what I had been told. Don't get me wrong, there was little if anything wrong here but it was just, well normal. There was nothing double about it. I enjoyed it a lot but there was nothing that jumped out at me and made me want to track some more down.
A very different affair is the Victory Storm King. For one thing this one comes from the US. This is an imperial stout so the 9.1% is to be expected. I actually have had this before at the Deveneys Charity beer tasting night hosted at the Bull & Castle. This time around I have a full bottle and am not surrounded by 200 people so I can see the beer and smell/taste it properly. What a beer it is, even better than I remember on the night. The first thing to notice is the colour, it is black and no light makes it through the beer. It looks like treacle but it has a much lighter consistency than you might expect from looking at it. The aroma is the next thing. It is in your face American hops, Cascade to my nose but could be one of the other Citrusy hops. It smells like a cross between a stout and an American IPA. Coffee is also evident as you would expect.
From the first sip you are warmed by an alcohol heat which moves on to coffee, toffee, liqourice and then finishes off with the citrus character from the hops.
Since two of my favourite styles of beer are Stouts and American IPA's you can understand that for me, the marriage of the two here produces a beer that is indescribably good. I know this will not be everyone's cup of tea (or coffee) but for me this is one of the finest beers I have ever tasted.
I must get some more.
Out of the three, the US wins with Storm King, then comes Scotland with Midnight Sun and in last place, but a deserving runner up comes England with the double stout.
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