A shout out for a cracking good beer for a change. Mind you, it could almost be a wine given the elevated abv of 11%! But thereby lies the reason why I probably enjoyed it so much. I love a good barrel-aged imperial stout, which to me seems to bridge the gap between great beer and great wine.
I came across it today at one of my regular visits to the Thomas Tallis Ale House in Canterbury where it was number 12 on the board of draft beers; the last in a list of beers in ascending order of strength. It is brewed by Tempest Brewing, an award winning craft brewery in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. I hadn't realised until I looked at the Untappd app that I had drunk one of their beers before - Vermont Sessions back in 2021. That was a very easy drinking, hoppy session New England IPA and, on reflection, in all respects pretty much the antithesis of today's stout. Other than my modest rating of the NEIPA back in 2021 I don't have any memory of anything particularly distinctive about it but today's Higher Grounds will linger long in the memory. It oozes coffee, and is rich, slightly sweet, and deliciously boozy. 2 years aging in wooden barrels has infused the beer with pronounced boozy bourbon notes. In short, it's a real banger of a barrel-aged stout.
To most people living in the south of England the Scottish Borders is (are?) a vague area, as the name suggests, in countryside somewhere bordering England and Scotland. But how many people can actually name or pinpoint a town there? After all, if you travel by train or car to Scotland you tend to travel either up the west coast towards Glasgow or via the beautiful east coast to Edinburgh. So I thought I had better do a bit more research on the precise location of the Tempest Brewing Company. And to my surprise and pleasure I see that the brewery and the new tap room in a former Barbour clothing factory are in Tweedside Park, conveniently located about 5 mins walk / less than half a mile from Tweedbank station, the present terminus of what is known as the Borders Railway that runs 30 miles south from Edinburgh Waverley station. This is interesting in terms of railway history as the line was built in the 19th century and extended to Carlisle. It was closed completely in 1969 and then revivied this century from Edinburgh to Tweedbank and officially reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015. If there was ever a reason the next time I'm in Edinburgh to take a train from Waverley station for a day out to enjoy the countryside and destinations of the Borders Railway a visit to the Tempest Brewing tap room is it!
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