Pastry Lords gathered in their masses
Just like brewers with black maltings
Fiendish minds that plot consumption
Sorcerers of dark construction
In the fields, their palates yearning
As the can machine keeps turning
Kegged and packed for mankind
Lavishing their pastry minds
Oh lord, yeah!
Apologies Ozzy, but this War Pigs interpolation felt an appropriate way to announce Sabbath 2024. Arguably Otherside’s most anticipated annual release, this pastry stout has evolved into its most mature offering to date. Now sans lactose, and with time on American oak, the 2024 release brings stave vanilla and caramel, plus dark and dusty chocolate, evoking a faux nuttiness of the theatre-goers’ crushed choc-bomb variety.
Near neighbour Jessie’s Café & Roasting Co’s addition imbues fruity coffee layers: the bean tannins weaving with a subtle oaky draw as the moderate sweetness resolves closer to that of a non-pastry stout variety – a spry twist on what many would have been expecting.
Guy Southern
Published March 31, 2024 2024-03-31 00:00:00
