Brewery: Robinson’s
Location: Stockport, England
ABV: 8.5%
Version: 330ml bottle
Source: Sainsbury’s

I’ve had good and bad experiences with beers this strong and I’m happy to say that this was definitely one of the finer ones.

Approaching Old Tom (with due caution and appropriate respect) the first thing you notice is an aroma of smoky liquorice. The liquorice is amplified on first tasting as the thick, sweet brew rolls and washes across the palate. It’s followed by a whole host of rich, dark, sugary, malty flavours: toffee, coffee, muscovadot sugar, molasses and treacle, all combining into an uber-flavour that’s deliciously, dangerously more-ish. Definitely one to savour, despite the temptation to race through a couple more while you’re at it.

The bottle is embossed on the front with the famous Old Tom winking cat (“sup up lad, hangover’s coming”) and the back label extols the virtues of this classic old brew “entered into the head brewer’s hand-written notebook in 1899″, no less. That head brewer was some sort of evil genius, I tell you. May he rest in blissfully inebriated peace…