Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

28th February 2026
Rating this version as it is a 22 month increase in the Calvados barrel aging. A mild haze on this dark brown beer, small bubbly tan head. Airy palate, a little dry, decent fine carbonation. Fairly light bodied malts, a little toffee and caramel, not overly sweet. Big Calvados, alcoholic semi ripe apple, some ripe cider. Apple brandy on the back end, mild alcohol spice. The vanilla is just enough to soften proceedings and, the cinnamon just enough to bring out some apple pie apple. A rich and rewarding barleywine. Has enough about the base to be a non barrel barleywine of interest. With the lovely Calvados barrel on top, this is a winner for me.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5

Coppery black colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is sweet apples with some cinnamon and a bit wooden tones as well as some sweet dried fruits and alcohol to it. Flavour is sweet malts, some dried fruits, cinnamon, sweet apples with some mild wooden and a bit alcohol tones as well.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

On tap at WBF 2025, pours black, almost no head. Nose is intense, with big cinnamon, apple, and of course apple brandy. Flavour is dominated by the apple brandy barrels—wow, that’s a lot—with plenty of booze, spicy cinnamon, and apple. Very boozy but with deep layers and low residual sweetness. Really nice slow sipper.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

On tap at Warsaw Beer Festival 2025. Pours dark brown. Dark sugars, brown bread, and raisins on the nose; very much like a fruit cake. Flavour has tart dried fruits, calvados-soakes brown bread, and dark caramelized sugars. This is fruit cake in beer form; excellent.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 3 | Overall - 4

Keg at Kufle i Kapsle, Nowogrodzka, Warsaw. Black, small head. Aroma of cinnamon baked apples. Sweet with full body and clean, rounded mouthfeel. Pretty much cinnamon baked apples with maple syrup and custard. Lacks nuances and complexity for a beer this size. Pastry style barleywine.

Magus, mõru, õunane, kaneeline, röstine. Ok