I wanted this to be so much better than it is.
Don’t get me wrong, Waen’s Blackberry Stout tastes very good indeed, and it may simply be that I got a bad bottle.
There’s a big bold chocolate and coffee body, rich in biscuits and a few brandy snap crumbs.
Over this you get a subtle hint, almost a whisper, of blackberries, equal parts sweet and bitter, and a hop that’s nettle sharp, green with hedgerow and good and bitter.
The aroma is chocolate covered fruits and a side order of fresh silage.
The problem is that this beer poured water thin with almost no discernible head and a distinct lack of fizz, and as a result for all its good flavours, it feels insubstantial, flat and lifeless.
I suppose in a nutshell it’s not very stout for a Stout.