Kick-Start – Vibrant Forest  (500ml bottle, 5.7% ABV, vegan)

Breakfast, we’re told, is the most important meal of the day. What do you have for breakfast? Maybe some porridge oats and a cup of coffee. Or, given that it contains both of these ingredients, why not kill two birds with one stone and have a bottle of Kick-Start instead?

Because it’s 5.7% alcohol, that’s why. If you’re drinking this stuff for breakfast, no wonder the damned forest is vibrant.

Kick-Start is jet black, with a pillow of tan foam that seems to be constantly regenerating itself from within, like a monster Tom Baker might have encountered in some half-remembered episode of Doctor Who.

It smells and tastes of coffee (duh), roasted malt and chocolate. After a few sips, an espresso undertone comes to the fore, but there’s also a balancing sweetness that prevents the coffee flavour from becoming harsh.

The texture is thick, smooth and tongue-coating, perhaps as a result of those oats. There’s a bitterness in the finish, but it’s more from the coffee than the hops.

Recommended for lovers of porter and stout. And early 80s science fiction. But not for breakfast.

Written by Richard Salsbury

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