Pitfield 1860 XX Stout
Pitfield Organic Brewery

Purchased at the Pitfield Beer Shop right before it was shut last month. Bottle-conditioned, BB 05/2008, served cool in a goblet.

A: coming in an ebony hue, with some ruby hints when seen against light; a light, fluffy tan head dissipates fast with a hissing sound of gas...
S: very rich yet settled aroma of charred-wood, oily-smokiness and chewy/raw roasted barley upfront, along with a very deep, bitter note of very dark chocolates and roughly ground coffee beans, and leather-ish+licorice note... Overall the nose is very rich and full-bodied.
T: roasted malts and herbal-sweet licorice flavour flow onto the palate hand in hand, while a sour edge from the roasted barley is gradually conveyed through the mildly chocolate-malty sweetness in the middle; leaving a subtly bitter-sweet aftertaste composed of roasted nuts, chewy coffee beans, licorice and dried date-skin in the finish.
M: slightly too fizzy on the mouthfeel for this type of ale, quite lively nevertheless; the aroma outweighs the flavour in this beer IMO, perhaps because the body is much lighter than the flavour profile and makes the palate a bit off-balance.
D: not bad, but slightly simple-structured for a strong English stout. That said, the delicate aftertaste perhaps is the key in the making of this historical beer~~