Ceylon Pride Ceylon Strong Stout

While Paul Webb, brewery manager at Hepworths, was sorting through some bottles of Hepworths beer to give me, I spotted a bottle of this sitting on the shelf. An 8% Ceylon stout! Obviously a copy of Lion Stout, one of my favourite beers. So while he was offering me bottles of low abv lager my eye kept drifting back to the proud bottle of Ceylon Strong Stout. He moved it a couple of times when reaching for beers just behind. "What’s this?" I eventually asked, picking it up. "Oh, just one of our contract brews, " he replied, shrugging. "You can have it if you want." The bottle was in my bag before he’d finished the sentence. Sadly, what I’d hoped would be an interesting find just turns out to be an OK stout. Yes it has nice flavours, but it’s a Sam Smiths type stout rather than a stout of style or character. Everything is as would be expected - coffee in the aroma, a sweet malty base with a hint of soy sauce and just enough woody hops to finish pleasantly. But it’s like getting Hong Kong Man for your birthday instead of Action Man. The parts are all there, but they just don’t feel right.