Friday 23 December 2016

12 Beers of Xmas #3 - Imperial Raspberry Stout (Thornbridge)

There is not much to be said about Thornbridge that readers here will not already know.  Thornbridge began brewing within the grounds of Thornbridge Hall, Derbyshire in 2005.  Their success was such they moved into a new state-of-the-art brewery in nearby Bakewell in 2009.  However, the original Hall brewery is still in use too.  Anyway, their beers are fantastic as you probably know but this particular beer is a collaboration with St Eriks Bryggeri, a Swedish craft brewer on the outskirts of Stockholm.  St Eriks seem to be more famous for creating the worlds most expensive crisp than they do for their beer though although the beer I am sure is pretty good.  Anyway, if you want a little bit of Sweden then this is a perfect drink as it is considerably cheaper than the crisps which are £46 for five of them.  That is five crisps, not five boxes.  I am sure they are 'craft' crisps though and worth every penny.  
  

I have tried cranberries in stout (gorgeous), oats, liquorice, coffee and oysters of course, some with excessive chocolate, vanilla, strawberries and other interesting flavours I've obviously forgotten.  It is rare for me not to enjoy a stout whatever people chuck in it.  This is the first raspberry stout I've had though.  Thornbridge St Petersburg was a 5* beer for me a couple of years ago in my 12 Beers Of Xmas.  This one doesn't achieve those heights for me though.  The raspberry comes through clearly in the aroma.  Not so much in the flavour though but it is sweet and I do prefer much more bitterness in a stout.  My wife loved it and we were both in agreement about the silky smoothness to the mouthfeel.  It drinks nothing like its' 10% ABV strength.  Don't get me wrong though because I do think it is a mighty fine beer.  Just not as good as this fantastic style of beer often attains for me.

This is the first of eight imperial stouts in my 12 Beers of Xmas so it will be interesting to see where it sits alongside the others come the end of this impy-stout-fest.

Cheers.

1 comment:

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