David McLaren founded Spire Brewery in 2006, taking the name from the curious twisted spire of the church at Chesterfield where he is based.

David used to be a bandsman in the Scots Guards. Music is very much part of his life and he’s made sure that it plays a role in his new profession, too, with many of the beers he produces having a musical connection.

His range includes a golden ale called Whiter Shade of Pale, a mild titled Dark Side of the Moon and an old ale for the colder months labelled Winter Wonderland.

He also brews a peculiar beer called Sgt Pepper Stout, which, as implied, is laced with black pepper.

I met David at August’s Great British Beer Festival and he handed me his two latest bottled offerings. One has a nominal musical link, the other does not, but they’re both very good beers.

The tuneful one is called Prince Igor, after the opera by Russian composer Borodin. It’s a very apt name for a complex imperial Russian stout.

Having sampled most of David’s range of bottle-conditioned beers for the Good Bottled Beer Guide, I was looking forward to opening this one and I was not disappointed.

It filled the glass beautifully, near-black in colour, topped with a deep brown foam. If looks were all a beer was about, this would win awards.

Raising the head to the nose, the aromas were equally inviting. Tropical fruit -– perhaps hints of pineapple – at first, soon gave way to the expected influence of dark malts, with coffee, liquorice and leather taking over.

Those malt flavours continue on the tongue, adding bitter chocolate and dark toffee to the mix. Tropical fruit remains evident, but distant, and there’s just a touch of cough candy, underlining its 8.5% strength.

If I were to pinpoint a negative, it would be that the natural carbonation is probably just too high. The abundant CO2 certainly stops the beer from being too heavy or cloying but it also adds a little detracting sharpness and I was willing the beer to be just a touch more deep and substantial.

When it came to the finish, the anticipated hits of chocolate and bitter liquorice eventually came through, although perhaps not as swiftly as I was expecting. All the same, this is a clear, tasty beer with a delicate touch – definitely one for stout fans to seek out.

There’s no musical connection with Spire Xtinguisher (‘It’s just a good name,’ David told me).

Described as a barley wine, it packs a mighty 12% alcohol, but, having tasted it, I feel it doesn’t need to be quite that bold.

In a way, I feel the alcohol detracts from what is a very polished beer that pours a light ruby colour, with abundant creamy malt notes in the aroma, along with red apple and berry fruits and a gently earthy yeastiness. Wine notes emerge and then hop resins trickle through, too.

Sweet, ripe malt and orchard and berry fruits layer the palate, but then that slightly over-egged alcohol content has its say, introducing hints of almond, cough candy and bitter perfume, which don’t really spoil the beer but don’t help it along either.

If you’re looking for hops, you’ll find them in the dry, bittersweet finish, with sweet fruit diminishing and bitterness growing.

Like Prince Igor, a raised carbonation level means this is a light-textured beer that drinks a lot more easily than a beer of this strength has the right to. Pared down to around 10%, this could be a classic.