Brewery: Meantime Brewing Company
Location: Greenwich, London
ABV: 4.5%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

The second of Meantime’s “London” beers that I’ve tried recently, their London Stout is – according to the back label – a reversion to “the original malt-only recipe”; one that recaptures the character of the sort of stout that was once brewed throughout the nation’s capital, in the days before “Pale Ales displaced Porters” and the focus of stout brewing “lived on in Ireland in its own distinct form”.

Quite obviously a reference there to the likes of Guinness, Murphy’s, Beamish and co., which – with the possible exception of bottled Guinness original, Guinness export et al – in this modern age tend to be industrially-produced, nitro-fuelled and served so chilled as to be rendered almost tasteless; at least by way of comparison to this little beauty.

Meantime London Stout is about the same strength as Guinness original, but I think it offers a lot more in terms of flavour and mouth-feel. It pours a very definite, opaque black, with barely a hint of ruby-red to it. The flavour – whilst certainly not over-powering – is a distinct mocha mix of black coffee and dark chocolate and the mouth-feel is wonderfully rich and silky.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s probably the tastiest, smoothest, easy-drinking (as opposed to strong) stout I’ve tried to date. So tasty and easy-drinking, in fact, that I nearly lost it to my Guinness-original-loving missus, who was sipping a can of draft-flow (or whatever they call it) at the time and was distinctly unimpressed with the latter as a result (which, of course, is what The Beer Nut has been telling us for years). I tried a sip of her Guinness-in-a-tin (purely in the interests of comparative research) and yes, it really did taste incredibly thin and watery by comparison.

So, back to the Meantime London Stout and to conclude: a very nice drop indeed and a great session beer as well, I’m sure. If you’re a regular stout-drinker then this is definitely one to buy in bulk and sup at will. I read on the Meantime website that they’re planning to launch an Imperial Stout at some point. I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for that one, I can promise you.