Friday, 4 May 2012

The Friday Pint #18 - Hardknott Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon)

This week I was unable to get to a pub due to having to wait for a delivery which never came (try to avoid companies using Yodel if you can). As a substitute, I have decided to open one of the bottles that normally I'd put off opening, in this case, Hardknott's Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon).

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Æther Blæc (2011 Epsilon) is a "stout beer aged in a 28 year old Speyside whisky cask". The bottle states that the cask was originally filled with Aultmore in 1982, and that the stout was aged in them for six months.

I'll be honest and say I had hesitations about opening a bottle of which a) I only have one of and b) there are only 636 of in existence. I had planned on leaving them for a couple of years (I also bought a bottle of the Lambda) thinking that they would be better then. The only thing is, better than what? As I say, I only have one bottle of these beers. Unless I go out and track down some more the moment I drink them will be it. I'll have no idea if they've improved or not.

As for now. This bottle that I have poured out. The aroma seems to be full of blackberries, somewhere between blackberry yoghurt and blackberry cheesecake, with each attempt to try and distinguish the aroma giving me different things. The blackberry element also seems present in the taste, and contributes to the beer seeming much less than the 8.5% that is stated on the bottle.

This beer is currently very easy to drink, though as a downside it seems to be lacking in flavour for a stout. Actually, that might be wrong. It's more that the flavour is subtle, rather than the full on flavour that I was expecting.

If I come across another bottle I think I'll buy it and put it away for a few years. If I don't then I'm reasonably happy with this. It's not a beer that has made me stream praise, but it's good enough and after today, that's just what's needed.

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