I recently had the pleasure of my first (hopefully of many) visit to the CraftBeerCo in London.
It’s a great place with a fantastic range of beers on offer, along with probably the best pork pies on the planet.
The staff are knowledgable, friendly and if you ask nicely, will happily shower themselves in Kernel IPA purely for your entertainment.. (Sorry Tom) 😉
If only all bars looked this good...
Courtesy of Brays Cottage Pork Pies (Norfolk) http://www.perfectpie.co.uk/
General Manager Tom was promptly licked to death by hoards of beer lovers wanting to assist..
Joking aside, this post isn’t really about CraftBeerCo although they do play their part for selling me the beer that spawned the idea for the post.
The beer in question was from American brewers Southern Tier, the impressively named “Imperial Crème Brûlée Stout”.
What a beer!
Impressive in name, even more so in the glass. Close your eyes, breathe in that aroma and be instantly transported to a Michelin starred restaurant and prepare to tuck in.
Been in a punch up and got your jaws wired together ? This for you, a liquid black Crème Brûlée you can suck up through a straw minus all the crunchy bits, it is truly awesome and I do not use that word lightly.
I’ve never had a beer quite like it, every taste and smell you’d expect from the highest quality Crème Brûlée you’ve ever had is replicated, a real treat to the senses.
All that said it’s not going to be to ever ones taste. I remember tweeting away excitedly as I sat and drank it in CBC, nobody doubted it’s quality, some agreed, some said “too sweet”, “too sickly”, “I couldn’t drink more than one” etc and I wouldn’t disagree with any of those sentiments.
But I also remember thinking to myself as I left Craft and walked through the bustling market “Phil, why have you got a massive Cheshire cat grin on your face?” I probably looked a proper berk, walking along, all alone grinning from ear to ear but I didn’t care, I was happy and it was because of the pure self-indulgent enjoyment of drinking that beer.
For me though that’s the great thing about a really good beer that sets it apart from any other alcoholic beverage, it has such an enormous depth. A skilled brewer has at his/her fingertips a diverse range of smells and flavours that can be brought to life with a little vision and the will to experiment.
Keep an eye out for this one, it is a perfect example of those brewing skills in action.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year, have a great weekend, see you in 2012!
Cheers!
Beersay 
I NEED to try this beer
I NEED to to try it AGAIN 😉
If you see it on sale anywhere let me know
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Love the STBC stuff i’ve tried so far, had to stop myself from buying the various bottles in Brewdog last night!
Do you know if they bottle this beer Steve, I’d love to get hold of some?
Cheers for the comments
Pretty sure they do, but maybe not in the UK, will keep my eyes peeled!
Please do Steve, I’l let you know if I find any too
I’ll get one of these next time I get the opportunity. The CraftBeerCo looks brilliant and is on my list of places to visit. Fantastic beer, great venue, tasty pork pie, what’s not to smile about 😀
CraftBeerCo is ace mate, you have to go, I was blown away!
P.s. Mybrewerytap did sell this
NOt on their list these days sadly, I’ll maybe give Rich a nudge 😉
ST has a whole line of theses flavored Imperial Stouts in their “Blackwater” line—choklat, jah*va, mokah, obviously the crème brûlée and an oatmeal. They’re a New York brewery, so I see all of their stuff quite a bit, living in Albany. Their regular IPA is, in my opinion, one of the best on the market. In fact, have a couple of bottles of their Old Man Winter, waiting for me right now. Good stuff all around, and I’m glad to see you’re drinking New York!
Hi Craig, I have to confess to being a bit of an American beer addict since I discovered the depth and range of fabulous beers you have over there. I’ve not seen that many ST beers as yet but will be definitely keeping the eyes open for more, I’d heard of a few you’ve mentioned but not Old Man Winter. Current faves are Bear Republic and Odells, I really want to get some Firestone Walker but they are so hard to get here, Parabola in particular. Be great to hear of any more New Yorkers you think I should get. Cheers
@filrd
Anything from Sixpoint, made in Brooklyn, is great—especially Bengali Tiger. I’m a big fan of Lake Placid Craft Brewing’s UBU Ale. Toasted Lager from the Long Island Brewery, Blue Point is worth trying. Capatain Lawrence, out of Pleasantville is a great brewery, and Ellicotville and Ithaca Brewing Company’s make some great stuff, too, as well as Three Heads Brewing, from Rochester. Including ST, that just about covers every corner of NY!
Cheers Craig, I’ll definitely take a note of those. Sounds like a beer trip to NY is in order 😉
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