BrewDog’s promotional video for their new ‘oatmeal milk stout’ is a quite hilarious piss-take of a Guinness advert. I heard about it from an article in industry mag The Drinks Business. I watched. I laughed. I looked forward to trying it. Here’s what I thought.

BrewDog Jet Black Heart 4.7% – bottle

Maybe I like dark beers better than lighter brews. They always seem to draw me in more than their pale cousins. JBH was no exception. It poured dark and luscious with a fabulous, pillowy top of beige foam.

An unexpected whiff of (clean) sulphur was the first aroma I got. It soon gave way to dark fruits, along the lines of black cherries and tinned raspberries, dark chocolate and black coffee. It basically smelled as dark as it looked.

My first sip made me think, ‘milky’, ‘silky’ and ‘Black Forest Gateau’ – a sumptuous mix of black cherries and dark chocolate slipping over my tongue. It also reminded me of dark fruit and nut chocolate.

Maybe what we mean when we say a beer is ‘complex’ is that there are so many ways you could describe its flavour, or so many elements to its taste.

There were hints of tangy liquorice threaded through this dark and juicy beer, it was also ‘superbly fruity’. Then I thought: “Neapolitan Ice Cream!”, but I think I’ll settle on it tasting like a ‘dark chocolate milkshake imbued with forest fruits’.

If you think BrewDog only made hop bombs, think again. Also, don’t be put off by thinking Jet Black Heart might taste like Guinness. It is a different kind of stout and you’ll find none of that roasty bitterness here!

The FemAle View on Jet Black Heart is: utterly delicious.