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  • Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856 at The Beerhive, Edinburgh. Free UK shipping.
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Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856

Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856

£5.50
£5.50
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Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.
Producer Kernel Brewery
Country England
Region London, Bermondsey
ABV 9.2%

Tasting Notes

Burnt Toffee, Roasted Walnut, Cocoa Husk and Pumpernickel

Explore Further

Dark England Imperial Stout Stout

This Pairs With:

BBQ Meats Steak Haggis Chocolate Desserts Autumnal Drinking

Don’t forget your bottle opener!

Beerhive Waiter’s Friend

Edinburgh and UK Shipping

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More About Kernel Imperial Brown Stout London 1856

This is the stout that eventually became known as the Russian Imperial Stout – and more specifically, the base for Courage RIS, a beer that carried London’s brewing legacy through to the 1990s. We’ve revived the original form, not as a recreation, but as a continuation.

Despite the name, this beer is very much black. Language moves on. The flavour stays.

Smooth and rounded, not aggressive – even at 9.6% ABV. Cocoa on the nose, followed by cream, chocolate, dark fruit, and a touch of plum and sour berry. The finish is long, with herbal bitterness and just enough light roast to hold it all together.

Drink it slowly. Let it open.

Meet the Producer, Kernel Brewery

Kernel Brewery

Style: Brewery

The Kernel basically changed London beer forever and then carried on quietly making brilliant beer while everyone else argued online about haze levels.

Started by Evin O’Riordain in Bermondsey back in 2009, the brewery became one of the key names behind modern British craft beer. At the time most UK breweries were still heavily tied to either traditional cask ale or bland industrial lager. Then Kernel arrived making beautifully balanced pale ales, porters and IPAs inspired by American brewing but without loads of gimmicky nonsense attached.

The thing people always notice first is the labels. Plain white text-heavy designs that look more like old pharmacy packaging than craft beer branding. Completely iconic now.

The beers themselves lean heavily into balance and drinkability. Their pale ales and IPAs helped introduce loads of UK drinkers to Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and all the big modern hop varieties before every supermarket shelf became covered in them. Crisp bitterness, proper structure and no unnecessary sweetness weighing things down.

Then there’s the dark beer side. Export stouts, porters and brown ales packed with roast malt, chocolate and coffee character without becoming ridiculously heavy. Kernel dark beer in winter is basically public service infrastructure at this point.

Even after influencing hundreds of breweries, Kernel still feels oddly low-key. No massive hype campaigns, no endless collaboration circus, just very very good beer brewed with frightening consistency.