Dark & Perilous Nights
Siren Craft Brew

375Ml bottle, bottled 19/10/23, 12.5%, Aged for 18 months in Wild Turkey, Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam & Woodford Reserve Barrels. A blend I take it. Drank Feb. 7, 2026

Look: black body no light passes thru. Short but persistent head that leaves some fine lacing.
Smell: Molasses, brown sugar, sweet malt, bourbon.
Taste follows the nose, with chocolate fudge, toffee and dark fruit/raisin. Some vanilla/wood at the finish. It is on the sweet side, fairly smooth.
Feel; there is some heat in the mouth but not harsh, fairly smooth, medium thickness. Has a slightly creamy finish
This is a very good beer. I will give it a 4.42/5.

Dark brown, tight tan head, but not quite as dark as a stout. Smells if potent bourbon, chocolate, caramel. Taste is the same with a lovely slight sweetness to it. No discernible bitterness, smooth, thick but not syrupy. Excellent stuff

L- Mostly black, at the narrow base of the chalice glass above the stem I just see a glint of deep mahogany. Pours with a 3mm deep tan head, which clears after a minute or two to a ring. The 12.4% ABV% doesn't help form/maintain a head.
S- Mild coffee, then chocolate, raisons, then a whisky note.
T- Boom! Liquerish!! I get the brush of ABV%-zing across my palate. Chocolate, but I'm reminded of Rum+Raison too. The whisky note is more an aspect than facet (if you dislike whisky I suspect you'll really struggle with this).
F- Deep, heavy, the pungency of the whisky grows as it warms in the glass. Best suited as a 'winter warmer' for slow sipping IMO.
O- Very interesting to try, but not something I'd expect to buy again. It's impressive in how 'OTT but controlled' it is, but in effect it's more like drinking a 375ml of what feels like a dessert wine than a beer. And then there's the price!
£11.50/375ml bottle from Real Ale Ltd., Formosa Street, London W9. No isgn of a BB date anywhere on the packaging.

 

Flat, opaque, viscous coal black with the smallest smattering of sepia bubbles; tar, dark brown sugar + sweet bourbon on the nose; brown rock candy, glazed roasted walnuts, sweet round vanilla bourbon notes, hints of cola, fig jam, and cocoa, and a sarsaparilla end; thick + smooth.

3.75 4 4.5 4.25 4.5

Not a promising start - I’d expect poor head retention at this ABV, but this is just dead in the glass. The nose is confusing, too: equal parts pure sugar + ominous savoury, hinting at soy or meat.
So it’s a delight to get to the glass + find a festival of holiday dinner flavours: honey-roasted carrots, glazed ham, maple sweet potatoes - think of any way to combine sugar with non-dessert flavours + you’ve got the spirit of this beer.
That is thanks to the muscular ribbon of whisky which insists on highlighting the black malts notes by way of contrast. Roast is not a factor - little coffee or dark chocolate, no ash - so I can see why this is labeled “Imperial Dark Ale” and not a stout.
It’s almost like they said, “What if we made a BA stout, but let the barrel + the booze do all the balancing?”
Possibly too sweet but still never cloys, warming but no burn, new nuances at every sip - there’s a lot to like + much that is well executed here, a tribute to J Wakefield’s record with big beers.

Siren collabs always live or die by the partner brewery; here J Wakefield deliver big.