Kees CFS Craigellachie BA Stout

Kees are the sort of Dutch brewery that looked at subtlety, shrugged and carried on making enormous imperial stouts anyway.

Founded by Kees Bubberman in the Netherlands, the brewery became hugely respected in European craft beer circles through rich barrel-aged dark beers, massive adjunct stouts and hop-forward modern styles that somehow stay balanced despite often sounding completely ridiculous on paper.

The stouts are really where things go off the rails beautifully. Coffee, maple syrup, chocolate, bourbon barrels, coconut, vanilla, caramel, sometimes all appearing together like the world’s most alcoholic dessert trolley. Thick, rich and definitely not designed for “just a quick pint”.

That said, Kees usually manage to avoid the sugary mess problem a lot of pastry stout breweries fall into. There’s proper roast bitterness and structure underneath the sweetness, which stops the beers becoming exhausting after three sips.

The brewery also turns out excellent IPAs, barley wines and stronger Belgian-inspired ales, generally leaning full-flavour and unapologetically bold across the board.

Very much a brewery for people who enjoy beer with maximum volume settings.