Thirsty Crow / William Bull Brewery Charlie's Pitbull
Thirsty Crow

Pours a coffee colour, slight haze. Tan head, creamy and beautifully nitrous-looking, retains pretty well. Looks great.

Smells is roasty, with coffee notes, touch of licorice spice and a touch of orange tang. Very nice.

Roasty flavour too, with chocolate, coffee, touch of coconut as well. Some spice notes with cinnamon, clove. Not much orange, but nice oak and chocolate sweet notes. Orange maybe clips it off before it gets too dark or big. Beautifully handled and balanced palate.

Alcohol is barely noticeable, just a big creamy body. Maybe a little bit flat.

Great stout. Big flavours, but sweet with well-tempered piquancies here and there.

 

Collaboration between Thirsty Crow and William Bull, brewed for GABS 2013, where I tried it on-tap. An American stout matured on French oak, with orange zest thrown into the boil. They call it an "Oak-aged American Stout with a twist".

Pours a deep, brown-black, oily at the edged, but otherwise pretty much opaque. Body is solid, but with a silky lightness to it as well. Head forms a creamy, thick and gorgeous layer of deep brown, which leaves intricate lacing. It looks fantastic.

Nose is equally fantastic. Lovely oak characters, mingling with some crisp hops and orange-choc Jaffa characters. Chocolate, black pepper and a wholesome richness to the whole thing. Wonderful stuff. Hells yes.

Light malt on the entry to the palate, with creamy chocolate tones suggesting a decadent body to come. Coffee comes through mid palate, spliced with a spritz of orange. Dark finish, pleasantly biting, but with a smoothness from the oak before it gets too astringent. Just lovely.

Feel is extremely smooth, despite the fact that it doesn't feel particularly heavy.

It could indeed even go heavier. Bring us a super-imperial version of this and I'd probably just wallow in it to my death. This is extremely smooth, very interesting and just gorgeous to drink. Absolutely lovely stuff.