Non-conformists

Czech brewery Zichovec didn't get the memo that high-variety craft beer is out and reliable-but-dull heritage beer is in. They're still churning out a vast array of different styles, with influences from all over. Today I have three of them.First up, it's another of those purportedly Irish-style beers from a foreign brewery, a genre I find endlessly fascinating. This one is called The Irish Black, and is a stout, at 4.6% ABV. No nitrogen is involved but it still formed a very full head, with a dome and all. The aroma is plain-spoken but nicely roasty, with a pleasing dry charcoal buzz. That's there in the flavour, alongside a metallic tang of old-world hops, but there's an unwelcome sweet side too. It's a little like the caramel one finds in Czech dark lagers, but more intense without the lager cleanness, coming across here as almost saccharine. I wouldn't say it puts this beyond the style boundaries of Irish stout, but at the same time, it isn't a good one. It's just too severe, and…