Hazelnut Brownie (6.3%) - Batemans Brewery, Lincolnshire, England

I might have something approaching an oversupply of beers from my new Spanish region of Galicia developing, but since Christmas I've had something different put aside for a special occasion. That something different was a unique English ale by Batemans Brewery that my girlfriend had bestowed on me, and that special occasion was Friday.

The label on Hazelnut Brownie, as with the other beers in Batemans' Sovereign range, has undergone a bit of a rebranding with a contemporary typographic look in favour of the more homely, rustic appearance that it used to sport on its beer pumps. Batemans is keen to highlight its long heritage, though, with its big wax stamp and the year it was founded, 1874, proudly displayed on the front. 

Lincolnshire within England

No sooner is the cap cracked off than the beer's lusciously fragrant aroma starts permeating the space around you without even needing to edge your nose closer to it. I shoved my nose down the bottle neck for a bigger hit anyway, sending my brain into a chocolatey frenzy before the stuff had even left the bottle. Once it had been given a swill around my glass, rich, creamy aromas of chocolate and sweet malts were diffusing apace. It was clear at this point that this would be no subtle interpretation of a hazelnut brownie.

It pours a gorgeous dark mahogany, with a generous coffee-coloured head that gathers and dissipates cleanly. If you've noticed that this is the only blog post of mine where that hasn't been captured in a photo then you'd be right: my chocolate-scrambled brain forced me to dive in straight away before I could.

Soon after doing so my cakehole was filled with the most ridiculously uncanny resemblance to a brownie I'd ever sampled from a beer glass. Sweet chocolate was there in abundance along with a touch of cinnamon spice and a distinct hazelnut finish that was too good to believe it could be true until I went back for more.

While it wouldn't hurt for the body to be a bit fuller, it's certainly as rich and decadent in flavour as it could be and manages to impart a creaminess, I assume from the use of lactose, that could have you believe you'd had it served up with custard, warmed up by the 6.3% ABV.

Quirky, dessert inspired beers are nothing new, but what sets Hazelnut Brownie apart from so many others I've tried is that you don't need to use your imagination to convert those dark roasted malts and reinterpret them as chocolate; this one does all the work for you. Whether this sensation has been achieved solely with the creative use of malt, hops, chocolate and cinnamon I can't say for sure, but who cares? It tastes like what you wanted it to when you picked it up off the shop shelf.

Appearance 4/5

Aroma 5/5

Flavour 5/5

Mouthfeel 3/5

Overall 8.5/10

Head here for Batemans' website  

Head here for a review of Batemans' English B Bock

Demo Neghro Extra Stout (6.5%) - Cervexa Menduiña, Galicia, Spain

As we enter April and springtime makes a leisurely and largely hesitant return to Lugo, Spain, I realise seven months into my residency here that I imported my beer-hoarding tendencies with me, having developed a sizeable collection and now not knowing where most of it even came from.

Fancying something to match the current climate, I picked this out. Whereas in this part of the world many of the artisan beer offerings have been established relatively recently, to my surprise it turned out that Menduiña is no newcomer to the craft beer scene. They've been squirting out barrels of cervexa since 2008, which by modern standards practically makes them craft beer veterans.

Hailing from Pontevedra, a coastal town in the region of Galicia, the brewery's aim is to "reclaim a part of the lost culture of our ancestors" by reviving what the ancient dwellers of these lands would have drunk without fear of being labelled barbarians before those poncey wino Romans came along. I very much doubt they would have been drinking 6.5% stout, but this is where the brewery's innovation comes into play.

Pictured on the matt, textured label is the very "Black Devil" that inspires the beer's Galician name, grimacing sardonically over a bottle of the good stuff. Interestingly the pagan Celts knew no Devil before the pesky Romans arrived, so this mischievous character seems to be one influence they were happy to keep. 

The beer pours an luscious jet black with a stunning cushion of coffee-coloured head that leaves a wonderful lacing down the glass. 

On the nose it's impressively fragrant for a stout with aromas of dark chocolate, coffee and a sweetness from the added Galician honey coming through immediately. The smell is so moreish in its own right, in fact, that I almost couldn't bring myself to tear my schnoz away from it to go in for a sip.

But of course I did, and the few glugs I ingested were a silky smooth, full-bodied delight. It has qualities of smoky, woody, dark roasted malts and some herbal hoppy notes that add balance with a bitterness, ending in a dry, nutty finish. Owing to the high ABV, a mellow alcoholic warmth is ever so slightly present.

On the brewery's recommendation I paired this with a few cubes of chocolate negro. This particular chocolate was on the lower end of the bitterness scale at 55% cocoa, and so while the bitterness of the chocolate complimented the roasted characteristics of the beer, at the same time they offset each other to leave the sweeter malty flavours, as well as the more herbal of the hoppy flavours to surface. Whichever way you have it, this is a devilishly good brew.

I have another offering from this brewery lurking in my special, top-secret beer place, so you'll be seeing more from me on them in the near future.

Spanish National Beer Championship 
2015 Bronze award winner

Appearance 5/5

Aroma 5/5

Flavour 4/5

Mouthfeel 4/5

Overall rating 9/10

Menduiña's website: http://www.menduina.eu/