Titanic Stout

ABV: 4.5%
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Website www.titanicbrewery.co.uk 

Originally published in BEER October 2007 as part of a review of that year’s Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain winners. For more see previous post.

CAMRA North London tasting February 2010

Titanic Stout

With its joint silver medal, Titanic Stout secured a place in the top three for the fourth consecutive year this year, continuing a run which began when it took the gold in 2004. It’s a noteworthy achievement that speaks volumes for the consistent quality of this well-known and well-loved micro based at Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

Notably only roasted barley is added to pale malt to darken this beer near-black, with wheat malt to help give a thick pillowy fawn head. A smoky aroma has coffee and blackcurrant yoghurt notes with emerging spiciness. There’s plenty of roast on the palate too, sweetened just enough by slightly caramel-laced malt with hints of liquorice, tangy fruit and cola.

A refreshing swallow leads to a tongue-puckering finish mainly dried by smoky, ashy flavours but developing burry hops with fleeting traces of sweetish malt. Titanic’s name nods to the fact that the captain of the doomed transatlantic liner hailed from the Potteries, but with quality like this it should prove genuinely unsinkable.

For more Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain winners, see next post.

Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/titanic-stout/5758/