Here's my slightly shaky snap of a hand pump clip at Earl's Court during the Great British Beer Festival. (Ignore the attractive blue surround flash from CAMRA for Wetherspoon vouchers.) An unremarkable pump clip maybe but when you ask your bar person to swing on this particular handle, what emerges is a highly remarkable drink. To anyone entranced by the history of Bass' and Burton's beers or who gets a kick from touching a piece of history, this 8% ABV strength Imperial Stout is a bit of a find. "P2" is the functional name of a strong (or 'stout') porter of the type brewed by Bass in the late 18th & the 19th century.
Bass' own naming system later gave their stouts and porters the prefix "P" - and the 'Chocolate Diamond' trade mark. The number was a guide to strength with the lower the number, the stronger the beer. Large amounts of Bass' strong stout were exported to Russia and the Baltic - a trade link established before pale ale became the golden egg of the men of Burton.
Dizzyingly, for those who like liquid history, Steve Wellington of White Shield Brewery, periodically brews beers from the Bass back catalogue. So this immensely drinkable melange of coffee/chocolate roast malt and port flavours with a coal dust bitterness as distinct as a Victorian chimney, can still occasionally be sampled. Which explains why a stout that went by sea to the Imperial Russian Court, washed up at Earls Court the other day.
