Mmmmmm. This is real engine oil - just how you'd imagine a top class aged Courage Russian Imperial Stout should taste like. Deep and malty with vinous crumbly wood character. Some soy sauce - big whiffs on the nose. Huge, intense flavour. Wow! Rich chocolate. Deep, ever so deep it never ends, malt character..... This is sublime stuff. No carbonation - but that is often the way, even with fairly recently brewed imperial stouts, though the condition is not flat. This tastes fresh and alive. There are very, very fine bubbles around the rim, and clinging to the glass under the surface of the beer. This has plenty of alcohol. There's nothing stated on the bottle, but this is more than 8%, and is possibly around 10 or even 11% One of the best vintage beers I've had in a long time. Awesome.
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| James Paine Brewery 1897 |
The beer was brewed in 1981 to mark the 150th anniversary of Paine & Co, a St Neots brewery which was in existence before 1792 as two brewing pubs, the Bull Inn and its neighbour, but was bought by James Paine in 1831. The company gently expanded to own several pubs locally. The brewery building was listed in 1951. In 1987 the brewery was taken over by Tolly Cobbold, who closed it shortly afterwards, so the Special Beer to mark 150 years of brewing was made only six years before the brewery closed.
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| Brewery and Bull Hotel in 1910 |
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