Description
See: Dark
Smell: Smoky
Taste: Coffee & Chocolate
Drinks Retailer Magazine – Jeff Evans, Chair of The International Beer Challenge
Hook Norton Merula Stout, 4.2%
I need to declare a prejudice: I am not a fan of nitro stouts. After the impressive initial pour that brings up a thick, creamy head, I find them rather dull, as there’s little life left beneath the foam. But other people do like them and there’s clearly a market for beers like this, so I understand why Oxfordshire’s Hook Norton brewery has headed that way. Putting aside my criticisms of texture and carbonation, this is, at heart, an impressive beer. It’s based on a 19th-century recipe and the flavours are wonderful – bitter treacle toffee, dark chocolate and a light smokiness. The nitro treatment and inclusion of oats adds to the creaminess in the taste before a dry finish loaded with coffee-like roasted grains, which add to the bitterness. If I had to drink a nitro stout, this would definitely be one. It’s head and shoulders above some of the market leaders.
