UPDATED: APR 8, 2023 (Can) Pours black with small tan head. Great aroma with roast grain and chocolate and hint of dried fruit and port. Full bodied, smooth, creamy with fine carbonation giving great mouthfeel. Great taste too. Starts with a nice balance between sweet and bitter and transitions to a much more bitter finish. The sweetness is dark malt with nice chocolate notes. The building bitterness has strong black coffee similarities. The booze is well hidden, with a little burn at the end.

UPDATED: JUN 20, 2021 Can from Yata in Sai Wan on home on packing day. Incredibly good deal in terms of $/rate beer score. Inky black pour with fine slight off white head. Almost opaque but not thick looking - brown on edges. Aroma is roasted bitter chocolate and dark black coffee with some sweet tart plum. Nice. Taste is similar. Balanced black coffee bitter with plum sweet, with alcohol warmth throughout. Sort of like North Coast’s Old Rasputin but with more plum sweet and less burnt butter. Very good. Palate is ever so slightly on the heavier side but with decent carbonation. Recommend! Especially at ~HK$100 for 4-pack!

UPDATED: MAY 2, 2021 375ml can bought at YATA in MOKO, Mong Kok. Looks: Opague deep Cola blackish brown colour with a cloud of misty yeast particles; Less than one-quarter finger head with residual soapy off-white foam which fades in 5 seconds; Poor sticky lacing with zero carbonation. Aroma: Very fragrant dark malt, with strong roastyness, tartness, cream, rum, liquorices, caramel, sticky toffee, black coffee, dark chocolate, floral, strong sugar, spices and dark bread. Quite nice! Taste: Strong sweet dark malt, with strong roastyness, strong black coffee, rum, strong liquorices, caramel, strong burnt toast, burnt toffee, dark chocolate, Cola, cream, floral, sugar, strong earth, strong pine, resins, dark bread, strong lemon, bitter hops and grass. Body: Full body. Quite oily and oozy palate. Mouth Feel: Full dark maltyness in a fairly viscous background. Quite rich, very roasty with full-on burnt toasty characters. Strong rum-like booze matched with strong black coffee and dark chocolate, plus caramel and burnt toffee with cream undertone. Flowery with strong sweetness. Expressive earthy spicy and piney oozy hops knitted with dark breads. Bitter lemony grassy hops to round. Excellent! Booze: the 10% abv taste like a tamed Rum with underlying liquorices. It’s fairly strong but never overbearing nor warming at any point, well-managed and make it pretty easy to enjoy all the way. Skillful! Hoppiness: Floral and spice in nose, same in taste plus strong earth, strong pine, resin, strong lemon and grass; Bitterness - burnt malt and hops - is strong and dynamic for a lasting, high-level bitter roasted dark malty finish. After Taste: Dry. Burnt toasty piney and strong bitter to mouth. Comments: What make this RIS being a standout from the others is that while it is full frontal on everything from dark roast, rich body, burnt toast, booze and sweetness, it is pretty restrained like there’s a red line being drawn from being a train wreck, so it’s very enjoyable. The piney hops added a nice dimension to the bitterness and finish. BA aside, this is one of the best RIS I’ve had. Highly recommended!

UPDATED: APR 22, 2021 Sheesh, classy name. Even from a brewery with a classy name. Can. Very dark red brown with a tan head that fades to a fat coat. Aroma of good dark chocolate, heavy roast, some praline. Rich with some coffee joining the chocolate, singed toffee, firm roast that stays away from burnt. Then sufficient bitterness to lift all that away. Fine balance. Straightforward and very nice.

UPDATED: OCT 26, 2020 Aroma: roasted barely/coffee/cocoa Appearance: black, big tan lasting meringue head Flavour: full roasted malt, sweet, good mocha Finish: long finish

UPDATED: MAY 21, 2020 Pours black with a dark tan head. Nose show roasted malt, liquorice, chocolate, soft toasty and nutty malt. Flavours include more chocolate, truckloads of roasted malt, a bit of liquorice, some caramel, a bit of coffee, and a fairly aggressive bitterness in the finish along with lingering chocolate fudge notes.

UPDATED: DEC 13, 2019 Can at Arde's residence, Helsinki. Color is almost black with very small white head. Aromas and flavours: Dryness, coffee and roasted malts.

UPDATED: NOV 23, 2019 The aroma is heavy on spice, toffee and burnt toast. You get some chocolate, toast and coffee mixing with the spice and also some licorice I the mouth. A beauty of an alcohol bomb.

UPDATED: NOV 2, 2019 Poured from a can into a tulip glass. Light on aroma disguises the kaleidoscope of flavours. Black ale with a beige head that dissipates to form central lacing and a collar. Flavours include roasted malt, coffee and spice. Loads of bitterness without the afterburn. Good carbonation and full bodied. Well balanced sweet malt and bitter hops. With an ABV of 10%, one is sufficient.

UPDATED: AUG 12, 2019 Can from Henrik. Pitch black, quite viscous, with beige head. Loads of rye bread, soy sauce, some vanilla. Some coffee. Somewhat heavily roasted.