Bottle from the BrewDog online store, drunk at home very late. Very dark drown with hints of indigo. No head, and lightly carbonated. Boozy aroma reminiscent of a full Cab Sauv. Liquorice and bay leaf notes in the nose as well as some light coffee. Sweet taste with heavy alcohol and lashings of red wine. Long drawn out finish with more hoppy bitterness. Strong tea, cocoa bitters and sharp herbs in the aftertaste. Really exciting and incredibly tasty. Worth the hype.

BOTTLE 37,5 CL shared. Rich chocolate cake, leather, warm barrel notes, oak vanilla, smooth aged spirit. Easy drinking body, chocolate, with a good deal of aged spirit, not harsh or boozy. Again, good barrel character without being too obvious. Excellent.

Bottle # 9044. Garnet color. Aroma: vanilla, oak barrels, caramel, butter, dried fruit, rum. Taste: sherry, rum, vanilla and barrel, awesome.

Draught at BrewDog Brussels. The 19th rendition in this fascinating series of ’arty-farty’ craft beers aiming for intricate complexity, in this case a blend of two barrel aged Belgian ales which is then again aged in rum barrels. Creamy, pale beige head, breaking quickly in the middle under influence of the alcohol but retaining well on the edges, very dark bronze colour, almost blackish, but still translucent, with burgundy reddish glow. Very intense, rich and delicious bouquet of sweet chocolate sauce, rum-soaked raisins, beef stock, roasted bell pepper, caramel, hazelnut oil, walnut liqueur, vanilla, wet wood, treacle, molasses, cinnamon, liquorish, Syrah wine. Palate is immediately drenched in a candied sweetness with hints of dates and raisins, balanced with a beef broth-like, meaty umami edge and some underlying elderberry and grape tartness; soft carbo, thick, oily, very vinous mouthfeel, barley wine pur sang. Deep caramelly and slightly nutty malt core with candied sweetness lingering above, spicy sensations coming up and getting more and more prevalent towards the finish, where, along with woody tannins, a peppery alcohol effect dries out the candied sweetness; I guess this represents the rum, but there is a certain heat which is almost reminiscent of some (soft) chili pepper variety; liquorish-like accents stay behind as well, along with this alcohol heat. Wow... I’ve had a few Abstrakts before but never young, and this one has a liveliness and complexity to it which impressed me more than the older bottles of other renditions. This is a very rich, thick sipping beer harbouring a whole journey of flavors, ranging from sweet over umami to sweet again and ending in dryness and spiciness joining in with the sweetness. Delicious, but this is very clearly a (darker type of) barley wine - and about as much a saison as Heineken is a double IPA, so an evident failure in terms of ’truth to style’...

Bottle shared with rlgk, fonefan, ChrisO and beerhunter111. Brownish color with a dark red glare coming through, virtually no head. Lovely heavy aroma of raisins and rum and overripe dark fruits. Taste malts, sweet malts, dark malts, rum, raisins, dark fruits, overripe fruits, honey, brown candy sugar. Heavy but complex, rich and very nice indeed! Don’t see how on earth this is or was a saison though!

37.5cl bottle. Pours clear reddish brown colour with a small head. Aroma of ripe red fruits, bourbon, wood, spices, soy. Taste of dark strong malt, red fruits, caramel, wood, bourbon, chocolate, toffee, warmy alcoholic finish, very good, delicious!

On tap at the Bottle Shop: Druid Street, London. Pours dark brown with beige head. Caramel, dried fruit, cocoa, some vanilla, berries, bit spicy. Sweet, medium to full bodied. Alcohol well hidden.