In 2002 the Welsh beer wholesaling company CH Marlow decided to add brewing to its activities, thus the Breconshire Brewery was formed.
This week’s featured beer was originally produced as a draught Bonfire Night special each November, but in 2008 it was bottled for the first time and became part of the regular range.
Brewer Buster Grant recommends it as an accompaniment to Welsh Black Beef, game dishes, or rich puddings.
Alternatively just enjoy it on its own as a distinct and warming glass of bottle-conditioned stout.
The colour is deep chestnut-brown, and there is a thin, off-white head. The aroma shows lots of deep, dark fruit (blackcurrants, damsons etc), with some chocolate and coffee notes, a little woody sourness, and a hint of smoke.
That smokiness becomes much more emphatic, almost cindery, in the mouth, accompanied by more dark fruit and chocolate, and a slightly medicinal herbal flavour.
The texture is rich and silky smooth, with a powerful, dry, earthy bitterness building in the aftertaste, and a peat-smoke finish.
I’d add barbecued meats to Buster’s list of food partners.
Let’s hope the weather provides an opportunity.
As recommended by Jim Helsby, of the York Beer And Wine Shop, Sandringham Street, York
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