My strongest beer to date

It's been Sheffield Beer Week, and the guys at Shakespeare's have done us proud: a partial tap takeover by Torrside; a mini-festival upstairs of 15 beers brewed in collaboration with members of staff; and a pin of Taxi Vader on the bar, a 20% imperial stout brewed by Steel City in collaboration with Brasserie Fantome. Considering that a third of a pint holds almost the same amount of alcohol as half a bottle of wine, I decided to enlist the help of my daughter and her boyfriend, and we shared half a pint between us. The beer is very dark and treacly, with a hint of elderberries on the nose. The mouth feel is almost gloopy, but the surprise is that the beer is hardly sweet at all. The dominant flavour is umami, reminiscent of marmite, presumably because of the yeast, with hints of bonfire toffee. I forgot to ask how much it cost, but in a round of three halves (the other two both Torrside: Discretion mild 3.9% and Valour imperial stout 7.7%) coming to £13.45, I would guess it was around £8.

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

It's been Sheffield Beer Week, and the guys at Shakespeare's have done us proud: a partial tap takeover by Torrside; a mini-festival upstairs of 15 beers brewed in collaboration with members of staff; and a pin of Taxi Vader on the bar, a 20% imperial stout brewed by Steel City in collaboration with Brasserie Fantome. Considering that a third of a pint holds almost the same amount of alcohol as half a bottle of wine, I decided to enlist the help of my daughter and her boyfriend, and we shared half a pint between us. The beer is very dark and treacly, with a hint of elderberries on the nose. The mouth feel is almost gloopy, but the surprise is that the beer is hardly sweet at all. The dominant flavour is umami, reminiscent of marmite, presumably because of the yeast, with hints of bonfire toffee. I forgot to ask how much it cost, but in a round of three halves (the other two both Torrside: Discretion mild 3.9% and Valour imperial stout 7.7%) coming to £13.45, I would guess it was around £8.

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Did you like it though? Mention of Marmite puts me off straight away.

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Originally Posted by Mobyduck

Did you like it though? Mention of Marmite puts me off straight away.

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It didn't taste OF marmite, it was reminiscent of that sort of flavour, but mixed with other stuff. I'm not very good at tasting notes, but we did all "like" the beer. Not to the extent of wanting any more: it's very intoxicating, after all. Interesting rather than more-ish would be my verdict.

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

It didn't taste OF marmite, it was reminiscent of that sort of flavour, but mixed with other stuff. I'm not very good at tasting notes, but we did all "like" the beer. Not to the extent of wanting any more: it's very intoxicating, after all. Interesting rather than more-ish would be my verdict.

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I'm all for interesting.

Good job it wasn't more-ish, cos I'm back there tonight and the beer has gone!

Starting on the staff collabs - strongest of which seems to be a blood orange triple IPA 11.7%. Sounds like it'd be right up your street, Mick.

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

Good job it wasn't more-ish, cos I'm back there tonight and the beer has gone!

Starting on the staff collabs - strongest of which seems to be a blood orange triple IPA 11.7%. Sounds like it'd be right up your street, Mick.

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Intriguing.

OK, left to right in the (first) picture: Torrside Valour 1917 Imperial Stout 7.7% (£6.90/pint); Boutilliers/Shakespeares "You Have Deaded Me" Bloody Orange IPA 11.7% (£9/pint); Beatnikz Republic/Shakespeares "Bass Hero" quad hopped IPA 6.3% (£4.80/pint); Blue Bee/Shakespeares "Wheels of Confusion" Black IPA 6.0% (£6.00/pint). Total £10.05.

Pump clips and descriptions for the three collabs also attached. (The black IPA was more to my taste than the other two, which were both too unbalanced IMHO.)

Beer of the week was a toss-up between Valour from Torrside and their very good 9.5% Kneel Before Grod, this one an oak-smoked imperial porter. Valour gets the nod for being deceptively drinkable.

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Originally Posted by Mobyduck

Did you like it though? Mention of Marmite puts me off straight away.

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How dare you slag Marmite off!!!
When spread like jam on toast it's heaven!

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

OK, left to right in the (first) picture: Torrside Valour 1917 Imperial Stout 7.7% (£6.90/pint); Boutilliers/Shakespeares "You Have Deaded Me" Bloody Orange IPA 11.7% (£9/pint); Beatnikz Republic/Shakespeares "Bass Hero" quad hopped IPA 6.3% (£4.80/pint); Blue Bee/Shakespeares "Wheels of Confusion" Black IPA 6.0% (£6.00/pint). Total £10.05.

Pump clips and descriptions for the three collabs also attached. (The black IPA was more to my taste than the other two, which were both too unbalanced IMHO.)

Beer of the week was a toss-up between Valour from Torrside and their very good 9.5% Kneel Before Grod, this one an oak-smoked imperial porter. Valour gets the nod for being deceptively drinkable.

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Generally speaking, I would regard many of those prices as outrageous even locally. The strongest PINT I had was a Mikkelerr 18.9% Triple American IPA in the Brodies King William IV well over five years ago. I've got a burn scar on my right arm from my shambolic attempts to heat a meal when I got home! I remember some of the locals staring at me as though I was some sort of circus act!

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Originally Posted by Aqualung

The strongest PINT I had was a Mikkelerr 18.9% Triple American IPA in the Brodies King William IV well over five years ago. I've got a burn scar on my right arm from my shambolic attempts to heat a meal when I got home! I remember some of the locals staring at me as though I was some sort of circus act!

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Serves you right for drinking a whole PINT @ 18.9%!!! (Shakespeare's were selling the Taxi Vader 20% in halves and thirds only.)