Any stout?

Two brewery stands at the 2025 Borefts Beer Festival seemed to have almost continuous queues. One of them I could understand: the New England legend Hill Farmstead. Early on day one I tried the barrel-aged coffee porter they brought, The Birth of Tragedy. The enticing whisky aroma gets this 9%-er off to a good start. When that gets added to the coffee and the bonus addition of honey, it creates a beautiful Irish coffee effect, all smooth, rich and warming. When the coffee middle fades, the spirit returns, providing a long finish with extra warmth. This isn't the sort of beer I associate with Hill Farmstead but it has been created with the same level of expertise.

Canadian brewery Badlands was next to them and was, if anything, even more popular with the crowds. I had never heard of them so had no idea what the fuss was about. After they sold out and closed up early on the first day, I made sure to be there early on the second.

I came away with Double Kiwi, which I think was the only IPA I drank at the event -- the Badlands selection was very IPA-heavy. This is a double IPA of 8.2% ABV, hazy, and brewed with Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka and Motueka. It shows off these hops well, with lots of herbal dankness and spicy rocket, set on a smooth texture. There's a little grit and a hint of garlic as it warms, but otherwise it's clean and well-made, and is particularly good at hiding the alcohol.

Their one dark beer was Wheat Stout, an 11.9% ABV imperial stout that tastes even stronger, with a massive coffee liqueur flavour, like a glass of Tia Maria. The mouthfeel is extremely unctuous, which I'm guessing is the wheat's doing, and there's no escape from the booze. Subtle it ain't, so I'm sure the Borefts crowd lapped it up. Me, after these two I was none the wiser regarding the Badlands fuss. They didn't seem to be doing things particularly different to a thousand other microbreweries.

Californians Bottle Logic brought several examples of Fundamental Observation, a bourbon-aged imperial stout. The base version, on the left, is 14% ABV and is a cakey concoction, the addition of vanilla beans giving it an intense sweetness which allies with a strong chocolate flavour. A roasted coffee note is as close as it gets to balance. While not exactly smooth, easy drinking, it is pleasant to sip and enjoy the growing warmth it delivers.

As if that wasn't sweet enough, there's also Fundamental Observation: Maple, and the key ingredient is very apparent from the aroma. In the flavour, the sticky sweet maple overrides everything else happening, and here it tips over into being cloying, sticky and actively difficult to drink. A powerhouse beer like this did not need an extra layer of sugariness added to it.

My defence for drinking a third version, Fundamental Observation: Rum Raisin, is that it was on the previous day. This one, at 15% ABV, was one of my last ones before leaving, and it was altogether more manageable than the other two. While there's a huge and unsubtle amount of alcohol heat here, there's somehow a bitterness too; a kind of spicy and herbal vermouth effect, making this an imperial stout for the negroni crowd. I couldn't really pick out either the vanilla, the rum or the raisins individually, but I'm sure they're making a collective contribution. This is the Fundamental Observation to go for if only picking one, which is probably a wise move.

It was a surprise to see traditional Yorkshire brewery Theakston on the line-up, and with their core range of beers, rather than anything souped-up or outré. Their one beer I didn't recognise was called Quencher, a golden pale ale of 3.4% ABV. From the name, I'm taking it that this is supposed to be sessionable, so the heavily perfumed aroma and foretaste seems ill-advised. There's some more subtle light lemon notes later in the flavour, but it all tails off into a watery finish, making it a beer which manages to go from unpleasantly cloying to horribly bland at an indecently quick pace. Obviously, this was completely the wrong context and format for trying this beer, but I would still be wary of it should I happen across it in a proper pub. Theakston is normally much better than this.

Liverpool brewery Azvex has a series of collaboration beers on the go, and it was their one with Cloudwater which they brought to Borefts. Operation Genome [25.05], the latest at time of writing, is an 11% ABV imperial stout with cacao, vanilla and pandan, the latter of which I had to look up -- it's a fragrant leaf used in south Asian cuisine. The beer tastes like an affogato dessert to me: simultaneously bitter and roasty while also ice-cream sweet, with a seasoning of hazelnuts. Like many a Borefts beer, it would likely be problematic in larger measures, but a small glass was perfect for enjoying the dessertish appeal, and the warming aftereffects. If you're buying a can, have someone to share it with.

An unprecedented two Irish breweries were at the festival. Unfortunately, Wicklow Wolf didn't bring anything I hadn't already had, so theirs was the only stand I didn't visit. Galway Bay, however, had Rán, a non-imperial stout (gasp!) that they've brewed as a collaboration with Mikkeller. At heart, it's a fairly typical Irish pub stout: 4.8% ABV, creamily textured and with a gentle coffee roast. With presumably a nod to the nation's favourite stout enhancer, they've also added blackcurrant, but not too much. That sits as a subtle forest-fruit addition to the simple main flavour; I don't think it improves it, but doesn't do any harm either. It was nice to get a break from all the big beers with this one, and it did a better job of resetting my palate than Theakston's Quencher.

I'll leave it there for today and will pick things up again tomorrow, to look at the weird, wild and sour end of the selection.