Beer – #429 – Thornbridge – Saint Petersburg

I’ve had a Thornbridge Saint Petersburg in the fridge for a while, and tonight seems a good night to get to drinking it.

Brewed by Thornbridge done in the style that is of Imperial Stout and they are in Bakewell, England

“Saint Petersburg is a fabulously full bodied – chocolatey, malt flavours with coffee finish combine to produce a great Imperial Stout.”

Selfie – in which I look incredibly old and squinty

500ml bottle, with a great label art, 7.4% ABV, 2.92 standard drinks that would be in NZ, and as it’s bottle conditioned may have yeast, This pops in at 222 calories a serve.

Rich and dark with smoke, subtle peatiness and the power of the dark malts. Molasses and liquorice and chocolate goodness all wrapped up in a smooth, warming liquid.

Finishes with a distinct humming bitterness carried well by the hop and malt combo.

So something dark, a bit sweet and enjoyable by the way it reads.

That’s a nice aroma on opening, chocolaty, but not sweet.

Pour is less “dark” than I thought it was going to be, but looks great once in the glass, and the head is large and fluffy and is persistent but full of holes. Yeast aroma takes over from the chocolate.

Taste, well this is intriguing as there might have been more in this but it’s all a bit pop-pop-pop taste-taste-taste.

I get at the end of the mouthfeel that this is more towards hop sour than anything. but rewind that.

There’s a bunch of sweetness but there is a real amount of hops sour that dominates the front of this, and the middle, and the end 🙂

Might be that I’m not enjoying this truth be told.

I was expecting but didn’t get any or all of – Rich, liquorice, Molasses, or I might have expected raisins. I get a dark beer that has a banging amount go hops and sour.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 5 a of its things from the thing.

The double dip review

Am I enjoying it? No
Would I have another? No
Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? No

IMPERIAL STOUT

Imperial stouts are usually extremely dark brown to black in color with flavors that are intensely malty, deeply roasted and sometimes with accents of dark fruit (raisin, fig) or milk sourness. The bitterness is typically medium and often the low sie of that. Imperial stouts are strong and often exceed 8% by volume.