Quote Originally Posted by sheffield hatter View Post
Tonight's beer is a magnificent 12.5% Imperial Stout from North Brewing in collaboration with Mikkeller. This 440ml can cost £7.50 from Beer Central. First impression is of a massively alcoholic beverage, seemingly stronger than the advertised abv. Made with barley, oats and wheat, and with added cinnamon, cocoa, coffee and vanilla as well as the expected hops and yeast. I was drinking this one fairly slowly, as you might imagine, and after enjoying the first quarter or third of the can, I began to feel that the chocolate was a bit overwhelming, and my enjoyment declined.

This is a fault that I suppose I pick out quite a lot in these modern beers, and it's particularly faulty in this one. I'm a great fan of subtlety, and I'm afraid there's nothing subtle about this beer. Take, for example, breweries that don't add actual coffee and cocoa to their imperial stouts, like Harveys, Pohjala and The Kernel: those flavours come instead from chocolate malt, and balance, subtlety and complexity come from the yeast, hops and barrel ageing. Those are beers that I'll buy again; not so much this one from North x Mikkeller.
Was all sounding good to me until you mentioned cinnamon , a no no for me.