Black Leeds

Dredging through my notes on beers long since consumed, I picked up a thread of stouts from Leeds. We'll start with something easy-going on cask before hitting the silly stuff. Kirkstall's Dexter does have a certain silliness of its own, being a milk stout with coconut. It looked well in the glass at UnderDog: proper black with a rocky creamy head on top. The flavour definitely shows the coconut, but it's not domineering, presenting just a side-show to what's a very decent 4.5% ABV stout. Despite the lactose, it's dry rather than sweet with a roasted finish and almost a wisp of smoke there too. This all makes it very easy to quaff. There's an object lesson here in how to put exotic ingredients in stout. Let's see how the neighbours get on...

The next two cans were sampled back in May, arriving courtesy of Steve. Both are pastrified versions of Northern Monk's Strannik Imperial Stout, a beer of which I have never had the pleasure so I can't tell you how much these have ruined altered it. Both are a percentage point higher than the base beer at 10% ABV.

First up is Pecan Pie Strannik which has a very estery aroma, all banana and toffee: quite off-putting for an imperial stout. The flavour is a little more orthodox, going big on chocolate, set on a thick and warming base. While sweet, it's not gimmicky: I was expecting some dreadful syrupy essence, but if they've added any of that it got lost in this can. While not at all bad, this one did leave me hankering for a properly bitter and roasty imperial stout.

I wasn't going to get that from Campfire Strannik, however. Smoked malt and marshmallows, perhaps obviously, is what they've added here. The end result tastes primarily like cheap diet cola, so that didn't really take. It's off-the-charts sweet with a nasty air of non-specific artificiality. At the very end it got a little more specific, and I could detect the sticky pink marshmallow under the greasy chocolate syrup and ill-advised liqueur, but none of this is in its favour. Yes, it's still an imperial stout, but barely.

It's possible to up the ABV without doing anything silly, even at Northern Monk. Here's Death, an imperial stout of 12% ABV, and oooh look at the fancy can, one which set me back a substantial €6. It pours as black as its name, topped by a tan head that vanishes quickly. Cold from the fridge it didn't taste of much so I left it aside for a few minutes at room temperature. Coming back to it I found it still surprisingly light-bodied, having the texture of strong coffee. It doesn't taste of coffee, however. Oddly, the first taste I got was caraway seed, a dry herbal quality. There's an alcohol burn behind this, but that's about it: no chocolate, fruit or any of the other enrichments that make imperial stout worthwhile. I don't get this at all, but I think we can live without Key Lime Pie Death or whatever being introduced to the market.

Cask milk stout wins the format war here.