With genuine chocolate

Heartless - 4.9%

Not so very long ago Red Willow tweeted about some old beers left around the brewery.  One of those was the inspiration for tonight's drink Heartless.

The first thing I noticed as I poured it out was just how heavy it is.  There is some serious weight behind it.  The second will be the genuinely pleasant chocolatey taste.  Here's where the weight helps by slowing me down, otherwise I'd be in danger of guzzling this.

Once it's gone down you get a slightly bitter, in a dark chocolate sense, after taste that is remarkably pleasant.  Dispite the shear mass of the drink it isn't as smooth and velvety as something like old engine oil.  Get that texture with this flavour and I will drink my self into an early grave.

Next up I could go for something independent from Norfolk, something I don't expect to enjoy or something with Coconuts in it...  Suggestions?

A name that is filled with lies

Smokeless - 5.7%

It's been quite some time since I've been lied to as much as I was this evening.  You would think if you were to name your product "Smokeless" then it would be decidedly without a smoky flavour.

Red Willow Brewery however think differently.  It's the product of a man, with a fixation on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who decided brewing beer for a living was more fun than whatever else he was doing.

They have produced Smokeless which is a smoked porter.  See right there in the name the lies come out.  But apart from the name do I have any other complaints?  Well I served it to myself colder than I would have liked but I can hardly blame anyone but me for that.  I really need to find a cool spot in the house that isn't the fridge, or at least get the beers out more in advance.  Still it had been a long day at work and I wasn't about to let an excessively chilled beer stop me.

So yes, it's smoky.  And it is yet another porter.  You can see from the picture almost no head at all, compounded by how slowly I poured to avoid the sediment.

I definitely enjoyed the rich flavour at the start but toward the end there was a sharpness to the beer that, while not ruining it for me, certainly detracted a little.  I'm going to put this down to the beer being too cold and the blame rests at my feet there.

I think there is real charm and greatness in this one so I shall endeavour to get it again and confirm.  In the mean time go get some of your own and let me know what you think.