This was a surprise.
I don’t know why it is, but every time I have a Derventio beer I expect to be disappointed.
And yet when I pour them, on the whole, they’re pretty good.
Barbarian is no exception.
This is Derventio’s Stout and it pours an impenetrable black with a smoky, leathery, woody forest fruit smell.
There’s a lot of leather in the flavour too.
It’s like tasting everything out of an old battered briefcase.
Lots of chocolate and plums and coffee all tasted from a second hand car dealer’s wallet, Barbarian is, much like the car dealer, big and round and boozy.
It’s a very good Stout that leaves a bitter chocolate finish and deserves a much better label on its bottle.
Very good indeed.

Source: Best Of British Beer