Dark Star Espresso Beer

Dark Star Brewery Espresso Beer

Style: Stout

Alcohol Content: 4.2%

From: Ansty, West Sussex, England, UK

Purchased From: Waitrose
http://darkstarbrewing.co.uk/

The Dark Star Brewery Company started, in 1994, as a small plant squeezed into a corner of the cellar of The Evening Star Pub, in Brighton. The company was founded by entrepreneur Peter Halliday, publican Peter Skinner, and brewer Rob Jones. At that time it was known as Skinner's brewery, but there was another Skinner's brewery in Cornwall, so the name was changed to Dark Star, after Jones's successful recipe for porter.(The resemblance between the names "Dark Star" and "Evening Star" is coincidental). It soon became apparent before long that the brewery could not keep up with the growing demand from the Evening Star’s drinkers, let alone the demand for its beers from other pubs.

In 2001 the brewery relocated to a new purpose-built brewery in Ansty, near Haywards Heath, from where it supplied the Evening Star with a selection of its beers, along with its sister pubs: The Stand Up Inn, Lindfield and The Duke of Wellington, Shoreham-by-Sea. A free trade to other pubs in Sussex and the rest of the UK developed at this time. Upon moving to Ansty, Mark Tranter became Head Brewer before leaving the business in March 2013.

A new 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2) site in Partridge Green was opened by Roger Protz in early 2010. This led to a fourfold increase in production, and Dark Star becoming the second largest brewery in Sussex. In 2011 the brewery acquired the The Partridge public house in Partridge Green as a brewery tap.

You wanna get a cuppa coffee?

Colour: A very dark brown or an almost black beer. On the pour you will be rewarded with a luscious white head that is almost as thick and creamy as what you can find on a Guinness. Unfortunately this does not last and the head dissipates down to a light brown foam after five minutes.

Aroma: Well the clue is in the name of this beer. Strong coffee and vanilla notes will fill your nostrils with every sip that you take. The coffee is so potent that it is extremely hard to pick out any other aromas from this beer.

Body: This beer is very sticky on both the lips and in the mouth. The coffee beans make this quite heavy to drink. Have you ever had a large black coffee from Starbucks and found it difficult to finish it all? If so, you may also find this with this beer. In fact this beer took me over an hour to finish.

Taste: When I first tasted this beer, it reminded me of the first time that I tried coffee in the USA. My face grimmest as I was totally not expecting this beer to taste so much like a cup of coffee. Since I started writing about craft beer, I have often been let down by beers that claim to be enriched with coffee beans, so I was pleasantly surprised by this brew. It's fairly bitter and it really tastes like an espresso. This is due to the freshly ground Arabica beans that are added during the fermentation process. What is most interesting about this beer is that the flavour mellows over time.

Something Similar: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/glastonbury-ales-thriller-rare.html
Something Different: http://beefsbrewery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/thornbridge-wild-swan.html

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