REVIEW #118: Mocha Beer (Batemans)

Pours deep ruby with a dark beige head that's swift to disappear. Strong scent of caramel, vanilla and raisin on the nose. Initial creamy coffee and milk chocolate notes, underlined by a mild vegetal hoppiness, drift into a fairly complex christmas cake finish with faint hints of tawny port (particularly dried fig and raisin), créme de cassis and solvent; bitter, warming and yeasty. I'm impressed with the depth of flavour and robust body the beer, the fizz is about right too. An interesting porter worth checking out.

This beer hit the big time by winning gold at the Sainsbury's Big British Beer Hunt 2012 (JW Lees' Manchester Star Ale was runner up and will be reviewed next). Wainfleet brewing co. George Bateman and Son have been a family run business for four generations. They ran into some trouble back in the eighties (which Michael Jackson delved into in some detail on his superb Beer Hunter TV series back in 1990) and were close to selling the company but thankfully managed to keep hold of ownership as well as keep it afloat. And today they are still going strong. 

• MALTS: PALE; CRYSTAL
• HOPS: GOLDINGS
• IBU: ?
• ABV: 6%
• CONTAINS ARABICA COFFEE GROUNDS AND BEANS AS WELL AS BELGIAN CHOCOLATE
• AVAILABLE FROM: sainsbury's