A 12 x 330ml case of Export Stout, London, 1890
Malt: Maris Otter, brown, black, chocolate, crystal
Hops: varies batch to batch
Yeast: American ale yeast
This is based on a 19th century recipe from the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, which we’ve adapted and modified. The black malt brings lots of burnt toast, overly roasted coffee flavours, and an assertive acidity. We have started using a little chocolate malt to try and reduce those acrid, burnt flavours, and some crystal malt to bring sweetness to balance the acidity. We made these changes because, although we enjoyed the beer reproduced from the original recipe, we enjoy our current interpretation more.
The resulting beer is dark, dark black. It has an oily texture, loads of rich dried fruit and alcohol warmth, often with hints of leather, tar, smoke and chocolate, and then a herbal hop bitterness on top.