Crème Brûlée
Dark Star Brewing Company Limited

Shared 330 ml can at local tasting. Nearly black colour, beige head. Surprisingly moderate but pleasant aroma, not much creme brulee though, but chocolate, roast malts and mild coffee. More vanilla in the flavour, also chocolate, but thin body compared to Southern Tier Creme Brulee.

440ml can. Very dark brown with a ruby hue and a thin mocha head. Taste and aroma are both dominated by vanilla. Mouthfeel is almost thin, despite the heavy lactose. This is an extra sweet milk stout with too much vanilla adjunct for my palate. I’d like the chocolate and dark crystal malts to do more work. It lives up to the label description that it’s a dessert in a glass but, ultimately, it’s too much for me.

L- Effectively black, though held up by a halogen bulb it's an extrememly dark ruby coloured streak appears though it. Clear, pours with 3mm pale tan head.
S- Vanilla, with a light toasty toffee facet to it.
T- Toffee, or perhaps more-so caramel, which ties with the palate of a 'Creme Brulee'. There is enough of a mild coffee-note and hopping to bring balance. I'd worried that when the lable talks of 'sweet and smooth... brewed using unfermented lactose sugar' that the sweet aspect would be OTT, but it's not.
M- Rich balanced by sufficient hopping. Works better on a cold winter night.
O- Would pair well with dessert or perhaps especially some cheese and crackers. Certainly different, though a bit of a novelty style for me to consider trying again.
440ml matt-labelled can BBE: 01-Nov-2020 £3 from a Waitrose in London.
Studying the lable, ingredients include: 'Malted Barley, lactose, oats, malted wheat, hops, vanilla extract, yeast'.

On cask at the Belfast Beer Festival, 2017.
Chocolate-black with loose taupe bubbles. 4
Caramel and chocolate. 4
Big cocoa, brandy, then brown sugar, big vanilla, and carob candy bar linger. 4.25
Medium, chewy, round. 4

Sweet, but not cloying. Hits the concept. Balanced and not gimmicky. Dark Star quality shines through again. 4.25