Broken Dream Extra Shot
Siren Craft Brew

330ml bottle into a Spiegleau Stout glass. Paid £3.40 for a single.

Pours a completely opaque, pitch-black body, which shows only slivers of dark brown against the edge of the glass even when held to the light. A dense, creamy, one-finger in height, light tan coloured head reduces slowly to a thin film and collar, leaving behind small specs of sticky lace.

Dark roasted espresso dominates the majority of the nose. Underneath, lightly roasted malts and hints of bitter baking chocolate follow, while faint traces of lactose sweetness become vaguely perceptible towards the back end. Taste initially follows suit. Intense and robust dark roasted espresso lead above lighter notes of roasted dark malt and bittersweet baking chocolate. Mid palate, sweetness builds as creamy lactose, molasses, liquorice and tart red berries expand on the simple, coffee-orientated nose. Towards the back end, tangy and acidic profiles begin to develop. Green, unripe coffee beans and sharp roast provide a slightly stale, and sour flavour, that doesn’t interact particularly well with a faintly vinous yeast. In the mouth, a medium body and assertive carbonation feel reasonable smooth and creamy, despite being thinner than ideal. Coffee and roast linger shortly after the swallow, drying the palate to modest extent and finishing mildly astringent, but more sweet than bitter on the whole.

Overall this is a decent beer. It starts as the name suggests, rich, robust and coffee-forward, successfully following with well-balanced sweetness and surprising complexity. The finish however is let down by overly tangy profiles, suited more to a Tropical Foreign Extra Stout than Breakfast Stout, and ultimately it just doesn’t feel as well-crafted as Siren’s regular Broken Dream offering.

Pours thick and black into a glass from a bottle. Beige head is two - three fingers high, a little sparse and foamy.

Aroma is dangerously coffee-rich, like getting a faceful of concentrated expresso/americano up close. There's barely room for anything else there's so much rich roast going on.

Flavour is, as you would expect, all about the coffee, but at the same time there's quite a bit of sweetness going on too like there's some brown sugar and dark chocolate in the mix. Those oats definately come through, providing that breakfast stout quality whilst that char in the background keeps the flavours dense and dark.

Mouthfeel is moderate, with a zippiness on the sip. The oats give this coffee breakfast stout a fullness on the back of the throat, but there's still enough carbonation to be noticeable on the tongue.

Very flavourful stout with that massive coffee character; would've liked a bit more mouth feel but no-one's perfect.