The first instalment of Brew York's 'Freaky Franchise' collaboration stouts, A New Beginning brings Nordic stout legends Amundsen into play to kick off the franchise in style.
At 11% it's on the strong side, but that's nothing compared to the kinds of strength beers Amundsen are used to creating and A New Beginning is the lightest of the five birthday beers.
A New Beginning is a coffee, blueberry, cacao, walnut and vanilla imperial milk stout, making it like a boozy blueberry muffin and morning coffee. The perfect way to start any morning, or franchise for that matter.
The theme of the 'freaky franchise' is classic thrillers, with each of the five can designs containing references to movies. This one features the heroine of the piece having breakfast - which she'll undoubtedly need.
Coffee is the overriding aroma with the with a touch of nuttiness and a lot of strength from the booze. As you would expect from an Amundsen collaboration, the body is very thick and rich with a really dense pour that coats the side of the glass wonderfully.
The beer has a texture that feels thick like milkshake, but smooth too without too much harshness in the flavour; which is very interesting with the flavour combinations. Once the initial bite of the alcohol fades there is a tart fruitiness there from the blueberries, combining with a chocolate bitterness that helps to balance it well.
The vanilla gets a little lost with all of the big flavours in there, but i'm sure it adds to the rounded flavour of the beer which develops more with every swig.
There's an aftertaste of slight sweetness, with the strength of the alcohol providing that satisfying burning sensation in the throat.
Each can in the 'freaky franchise' has a design that references classic horror films with characters and iconic scenes appearing on each on. For A New Beginning it's a little more subtle than the other wise the only horror character being Jason.
As our heroine eats a stack of pancakes with chocolate and blueberries staring into the distance, she seems unaware of Jason sneaking in behind her ready to unleash carnage.
The can designs are really quite something, with the old-style film strip design making the label appear as if on a roll of film with the panels separating the main label design from the back.
There's loads of information on the rear of the can including details of the malts and coffee used, a brief bio about the beer and it's part in the story of the 'freaky franchise' and with all of the usual information.
Unfortunately, A New Beginning is sold as part of the 'freaky franchise' range of limited edition beers and comes as a set, which you could get from Brew York but now is sold out - so you'll have to try and seek out a set in a bottle shop like we did.
