Everybody speculates about what heaven looks like, but nobody is talking about how it feels. Luckily, Left Handed Giant have solved this issue.
Heaven is, apparantly, full of chocolate, vanilla and walnuts. It seems so obvious when you think about it, but it's taken this deliciously smooth and flavourful stout to convince me that this is the case.
Left Handed Giant have really ramped up the malt in this one, with several malt varieties that help give it a well-rounded base for the more exciting flavours to really launch from.
These include Maris Otter, which is normally associated with bitters and provides a smooth, caramel flavour combined with the Munich, Chocolate and Biscuit malt to complete the malt bill.
The amount of malt provides a malty aroma when the can is popped which combines nicely with an earthy walnut and bittersweet dark chocolate richness.
The pour is thin, but it has a really big body with a creamy and smooth texture in the mouth that makes it feel like it's a lot thicker than it actually is. The walnuts are the primary flavour at first but then there is a slight metallic twang, which doesn't really detract from the flavour but does fly against the smooth and rich chocolate notes that come afterwards.
The vanilla isn't that obvious at first, but as you drink more of the beer the vanilla comes to the fore more towards the back of the flavour profile and into the aftertaste, providing a more subtle sweetness to combine the richness of the cacao.
The aftertaste itself is predominantly sweet with a very rich finish, working well with the subtlety of the vanilla along with the slightly savoury flavour of the walnut.
If heaven feels like chocolate, vanilla and walnut; then according to LHG heaven looks likena floating purple ball in space with green stremers and a bright yellow centre.
Not really sure what's going on with the label, visually, but it's very striking. It seems to be in space, but the two palm-upwards hands would suggest some kind of deity isin play. Is the purple thing in the middle representative of the world? Is it an artist's commentary on the fragility of human kind and it's reliance on believing in something 'after'? Is it just a funky image on a beer can label? Who knows.
The sensible side of the can - the one with all the main information - is fairly straightfoward. It has the beer name and ingredients, along with bit more detail about them which is a nice read. As a can it's pretty cool, even if it's way over my head artistically.
We got this one from our local bottle shop, so we'd suggest you check there first. After looking online the only place I can find where it's in stock is a place called Stroud Wine, where you can pick up a slice of heaven for just £5.55, which is a steal whichever way you cut it.
