Bottle from Monument in Concord, CA. Pours dark brown with a transient tan head. Aroma of dark grape, red berry. Med body or better. Flavor is red berry, touch of chocolate, some wood, and then wham! Smoke is in the finish. Not your moderate Aecht type. Dry. Very woody too. Excellent.

It seems right to lead into 2015 with something likely to be a bit special and gear from 8 Wired rarely disappoints. From a bottled labelled 1PT, 9 on 31/12/2014. Pours a very deep brown with a very small tan head. Has a powerful aroma where the oak and smoke are immediately apparent, along with lots of dark and stewed fruit, with some caramel in the background. There is so much going on the in mouth, it’s hard to know where to start. There’s lots of fruit here including apples, lemons, plums, cherries, prunes and dates. But you also get some chocolate, caramel, vanilla, honey and port. The bitterness is sharp and slightly roasty, with some nice but relatively subtle smoky notes presenting at the end. Throughout, there is a discernible oakiness which sits on top of it all, but it never overwhelms. Though there is a touch of warming booze evident throughout, it drinks much easier than 11% and has a surprising dessert quality to it. I’m not predisposed to loving barrel aged beers but this one is an absolute ripper. I’ve managed to down this all by myself ridiculously quickly, and am now wishing I had another! Happy New Year all.

Bottle, 12C. Clear dark brown with a tan head that settles to a coat and retreats to the rim after a while. Aroma of under-ripe red berries, dark chocolate, tea tree, leather, oak. As an Antipodean, I really love how the tea tree is worked into the aroma. Lowish carbonation, slightly slippery texture. Dark chocolate, red grapes and berries, some light smoke, oaky and stemmy finish with a bit of a funky twang and some bitterness. Oak is maybe a bit much after a while. Warming, involving.