It seems to me that Godspeed is pretty serious about what they do and nothing from this brewery is an average day at the races. Case in point, take this super serious stern strong and stately stout. No imaginary friends or electric unicorns gracing this bottle. An understated cracked pot (not to be confused with to our Editor, an overstated crackpot)* and a few coffee beans grace this 500ml bottle of mystery and intrigue. Unless you are a Lana del Rey fan** you have probably never heard of Kintsugi (金継ぎ), the Japanese art of stitching together broken pottery with gold and sliver powders.
Another standard summertime stout season sampling session is what you are wondering. I think not. Godspeed tell us that this stout was stitched together with patience, struggle and love. To be more specific, it is an imperial coffee stout blended with Saison that was aged for 4 years in French oak barrels, then mixed with fresh amber lager, then bottle conditioned for months. Time to taste test the results of Godpseed’s Kintsugi experiment with their gold and silver stout stitching.
A pour as dark as a Lana Del Rey song, and as heady as the lyrics. The tan topper is reminiscent of nitro stouts of the past, but the look is where the similarities end. An intimidating nose, barrel aged saison aggression with some stout in there somewhere, not your great grandfather’s stout that’s for sure. Wow, full stout flavour with a fruit wine like side show going on, not boozy but certainly unique. Sipping a strong stout body with a raisin wine aged finish combining with the expresso. Complex, layered and languid. I know it sounds weird but somehow it works.
You need to keep an open mind with this brew. Even stalwart seasoned stout sommeliers will take pause (and maybe exception) with this one. Be the tortoise, not the hare, on this stout. Big swigs lead to nothing but regret. An expensive brew, not a fridge stocker,*** but it is a unique stout experience.
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