A toast to the roast

International Stout Day rolled around again in early November and, as usual, Diageo pulled out the stops to celebrate in style at their Open Gate Brewery. This year the focus for guest beers was on local brewers, which was heartening, especially since Irish brewers have been turning out some magnificent stouts lately. And of course there was a selection of stout specials from Open Gate itself. That's where I'll start.

The Open Gate Baltic Porter was the first surprise, and everyone I know who got one double-checked with the bar it was correct. OK, 6.8% ABV is a little low for the style but the colour was way off: a clear coppery shade of red. Most unorthodox. But beer isn't for looking at and I couldn't fault this on the flavour. There's a clean lager base, set upon which is a spicy noble hop flavour, tasting like rocket to me, but with side notes of spinach and basil too. The texture is light and it avoids the intense bitterness that can make the style difficult to drink. Had it been badged as a bock nobody would have blinked an eye, on International Bock Day at least.

Coming off the back of a Rugby World Cup with matches in the morning: Stout of the Rising Sun, a 0.5% ABV job. This was a murky brown colour and very thin and sweet, like cold sugary tea. It was a lot less convincing than the non-alcoholic stout they released on ISD last year.

The final Open Gate beer of the evening was Cocoa Nut Porter, which was even murkier with a similarly poor head retention. We're comfortably back amongst our vices, however, with a sturdy 6% ABV. Despite this it's another thin one, not making great use of either the gravity or the special ingredients: some basic milk chocolate and barely-there coconut oils. I like my novelty beers to scream their silliness at me; this merely whispered.

It was lovely to see two beers from new Northern Irish brewery Heaney on the blackboard -- my first time getting to taste them.

Heaney Irish Stout is, as the plain name implies, a very straightforward affair. The principal nod to individuality is a mineral, chalky dryness rather than one derived from roast flavours. I got a very slight pinch of savoury soy sauce too. Other than that, all is as it should be.

I got a touch of vertigo going from this all the way to a gingerbread imperial stout from the same brewery. Can't Catch Me has a huge and very real ginger aroma which hooked me from the get-go -- remember what I said about screaming novelties? The texture is smooth, while a relatively modest 8% ABV provides all the mellow warmth that's required. The flavour really delivers well on the name, being wholesome and spicy. At the same time it's not overly sweet, and maybe ginger nut biscuits are a better comparator than ginger bread, but either way it's an absolutely marvellous beer.

The award for daring recipe of the evening goes to Dead Centre for their chocolate pretzel stout, Hansel & Pretzel. I don't think I've ever eaten a chocolate-coated pretzel so I can't judge how accurate this interpretation was. To me it tasted inappropriately dry and a bit papery, like it was oxidised. I got a twang of putty too. The best feature was the texture, all weighty and creamy, helped along by 6.6% ABV. It just didn't have the depth or richness of flavour to match that, however.

On to the final flight, and that brought an interloper: Garnet from Rye River -- a brown ale! An imperial brown ale, specifically: 9.5% ABV after some time ageing in Cognac barrels. This is their latest seasonal release, out now in 75cl bottles. How is it? It's hot: a very spirituous burn all the way through, with a sharpness which recalls ill-advised cheap brandies from disreputable airport shops. It does mellow with time, bringing a light floral complexity -- lavender and violet -- plus a tang of lemon aspirin. Overall, though, I found it a little sickly. The brandy is laid on quite thickly and I'm not sure the base beer is able for it. Imperial stout is the barrel ageing cliché style, but that's with good reason

DOT toed the line with this final pair, though information about them was thin on the ground. I will assume that Ron Burgundy was wine-barrel aged, based on both the name and the mahoosive kick of fortified red wine I got from it. Somehow, at 10.2% ABV, it avoids tasting boozy, instead showing rich raisin and grape notes. A stout purist might quibble over the lack of dryness or bitterness but I didn't mind; this is one of those well-upholstered, sinkable-into, luxury sippers.

Very Sherry was the day's strongest: 12% ABV. Very whiskey, I thought: with a cereal base and then lots of warm spirit high notes. There's a fascinating herbal complexity I wasn't expecting and can't explain, making it taste strongly of vermouth. Again this one has lost its core stoutness (wish I could!) but is still very decent and balances the base beer against the special effects very well.

Thanks to the Open Gate crew for the opportunity to taste these, in the company of some of the beer world's finest content creators whom they shipped over for the day. Viva stout!