Hopback Ginger Stout
Hop Back Brewery plc

This bottle-conditioned beer was purchased at the Wyndham Arms in Salisbury, coming in a 500ml brown glass bottle; BB 22/10/11, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a pitch black hue, coming with a fast retreating beige froth with mild carbonation.
S: deeply coffee-ish with a whiff of licorice-like herbal notes, ginger renders a rather mild edge to the overall aroma, complementing the main coffee/roasty theme seamlessly; the secondary aroma has lightly sweet brown malts, medicinal notes, and menthol.
T: the mildly effervescent swallow of light-bodied roasty maltiness is closely followed by a mild gingery flavour, earthy root-herbs as well as mints; the lightly metallic and rough-ish bitterness underlines the lingering coffee-ish aroma down the sides of the tongue, along with a semi-salty undertone and relatively mild bitter-sweetness reminiscent of Chinese licorice-infused herbal drink/soup. No obvious hop flavour is detected overall, but maybe it has rendered some bittering effect.
M&D: this med-bodied stout is softly carbonated but shows not much depth in the overall flavour profile. I find it slightly like the Entire Stout in that it is understated in flavour yet "quietly likeable"... as well as easy-drinking.