We are so back! 

Well, at least with New Zealand's almighty Garage Project we are!

Wellington, New Zealand's Garage Project is probably one of the most well-known craft beer folks in the eastern hemisphere. Known for their deeply experimental, no common theme, high frequency releases that span the entire craft beer vocabulary, they've amassed a huge cult following.

The company was started by Pete Gillespie and Jos Ruffell who grew up together, as well as having some input from Pete's brother Ian, and as you might imagine from its name, was an incredibly small project when it first started out.

This allowed them to try out all sorts of experiments which gave birth to the massive range of creations that now belong to the brand. It's obviously become very popular since and has expanded far and wide.

And so today we're going to try this super cool labelled Coco Puff! I would so love to live in a dreamscape of fishes. This is an Imperial Stout that's got, a total of eight different malts, Coco Puff (confirmed to be the cereal, and in the mountain-ful according to Garage Project) and blackberry kush (from terpene, a type of flavoured scent compound), as well as chocolate (in the form of cacao powder, freshly kilned nibs). 

Let's give this a go! 

Coco Puffs (Coco Puff & Blackberry Kush Chocolate Imperial Stout), Garage Project, 9% ABV - Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Espresso Black

Aroma: Classic Stout scents - espresso, dark chocolate, added dustings of cocoa powder, charred meat oiliness and burnt notes. The blackberries come out very subtly when the glass was empty, almost like a concentrate.

Taste: Medium bodied, surprisingly very approachable, it's got a good fullness but isn't dense or too heavy. It starts off again very classic Stout, espresso with abit of bitterness, burnt meats char, cocoa powder, and some blackberry jam all the way at the back.

Finish: More cocoa coming through, savoury bitterness of burnt meats. With more sips the bitterness goes and instead there's more savouriness, with a bigger milk chocolate note.

My Thoughts

An altogether very balanced and approachable stout that's easy drinking. The cocoa notes are present but well-integrated and subtle, forming a brighter note that accents the stout. The blackberry too comes more at the back, when you first notice it, you'll immediately recognise it around, but it does take some searching. At the core of it, we've got a very sessionable stout that isn't too heavy or dense, it's not too sweet nor bitter either, it's not a super dank stout nor an overtly pastry one, which I'd call a pretty well-balanced, middle of the road stout in my book. That said I do wish the cocoa and blackberry notes would be more forward and bolder, which in this case I think tends to be alittle shy and hides behind the espresso forward body of the stout.