i'm gonna break off stouts from the extreme beer guide and eventually have a pair. but meanwhile this:

samuel smith's imperial stout: a lovely strong stout, a trifle malty for my taste, but bristling with british: it practically tastes like a pub (i've never really eaten a pub, but i lived a year in london, writing rock crit in the early eighties). really, i had a full-physiological flashback when i gulped. all low notes, like a stout should be. creamy head by purely natural means: this sort of craft is gathered over centuries, not decades. oh and one of the great bottles/labels in the biz. "contractor to her majesty's forces": her majesty's forces are fortunate lads.