Cranky Reviews

Hello darkness my old friend, I’m here for an elbow bend,

Because this beer I’m slowly pouring, is the brew I’ll be scoring,

A stout is the topic of this refrain, and what remains.

Is a round of The Darkness.*

What lies beyond the pale? ** If you guessed The Darkness in this instance you would be correct. Beyond the Pale has made an appearance at two COM AGMs in the past, with the top score out of 22 brews at the 2^nd annual event with their Aromatherapy. And they garnered a super suds score at the 5^th AGM with their The Daily Pils! Time to down some darkness.

A dark pour for sure, way way beyond pale. A roasted malt sweet aroma, stout season is upon us! It has a smooth, dare I say slick, mouthfeel. The first taste is strong roasted malt with espresso bitters on the finish and aftertaste.  It is a tasty full flavoured stoutly stately stout. Just like Farmer Steve this brew gets smoother which each drink. I was firmly ensconced on the dark side, and thoroughly enjoying it.

There was one last small swig in my tankard which I drank with relish, not the condiment but the sentiment. Hello darkness my old friend, this one was tasty til the end.

*Editor’s Comment: Once again our Reviewer has butchered a modern classic with his oxymoronic version of the classic oxymoron song. The Sound of Silence (originally named The Sounds of Silence) was written by Paul Simon and released by Simon and Garfunkel in 1964. In 2015 the heavy metal band Disturbed did a cover version that was a number 1 hit as well. Paul Simon endorsed the Disturbed version calling is a “really powerful performance” of the song.

**Editor’s Comment: “The Pale” was the part of Ireland directly under control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. The word “pale” means “stake” as to be “impaled” and fences were made of stakes, so the term came to be associated with “fence”. The term was not specific to Ireland as it was also used in other regions around the world. The expression “beyond the pale” came to mean outside the bounds of acceptable behaviour, outside of local laws. It is not clear if the expression derived from the middle ages as it was first seen in print in the 1700’s.