As delicious as this is, I don't recommend trying to actually stone crows. They're incredibly intelligent and could really mess you up if they tried.
Dark crystal malt combined with chocolate malt sounds like a winning combination, and it is. This porter strikes an ideal balance between malt, bitterness and chocolate to make it a rounded, easy-drinking beer that anyone could easily sink two or three of in a session.
Brewed with a typical British malt bill of Styrian Goldings, Millenium and Nugget hops, this has a lot in common with Lymestone Brewery's Stone Faced bitter which has a similar hop profile, but the darkness of the crystal malt and the addition of chocolate malt give it a deeper, richer flavour profile.
There's a little smokiness to it in the aroma which was unexpected, but welcomed as it combined well with the maltiness that was there too on uncapping. The pour is light, but the body is creamy and smooth with relatively low carbonation compared to some porters.
The flavour is biscuity, but with a delicate chocolate flavour. Like a chocolate digestive with most of the chocolate licked off, which coincidentally is the correct way to eat a chocolate digestive.
The biscuity malt and the slight sweetness of the chocolate are balanced well with a slightly bitter undertone that continues into the aftertaste, making this a delicate beer but one that is a very pleasant drinking experience.
Lymestone Brewery continue to keep it simple, this time almost reversing the colour scheme of the usual green with black accented labels to be black with green accents.
It's a fairly straightforward label with nothing really to stand out about it, like some of the best beers it lets what's inside do the talking.
You'll have to buy 12 of them, but there are certainly worse things in life to have 12 of. They'll cost you around £2.29 each.
