12 oz bottle from mcbackus; Nose of flowery hops and caramel with some dark fruit and sweet citrus thrown in; (almost barleywineish) Hazy tarnished copper colorwith a medium straw head; flavor has hop bitterness, toffee, and light sweet fruitiness; finish is nmildly bitter.

12oz bottle pours clear copper with nice white head. The aroma has notes of medium roasted malts, sweeter malts, a mild pulse of grapefruit hops and faint caramel. The taste begins sweet with malts that slowly turn more and more roasty as the taste moves forward. The grapefruit hop note noted in the nose begins a bit timid but grows to become nearly tepid in hop bitterness as the finish approaches. This beer leaves behind mostly pine and grapefruit hop bitterness along with some crystal malt roastiness lingering into the after taste.

Bottle (big thanks to Jonas !) Almost clear, copper coloured, small, slowly collapsing off-white head impressive mix of resinous, herbal-hoppy aromas, sweet dark malt and dried fruit in the nose; almost dryish solid bitter-sweet flavour, medium bodied; lingering dry bitter finish, accompanied by herbal hops and dry fruits. Superb stuff, very well balanced, very well hidden alcohol........

Bottle. Pine hops and caramel malt aroma. Dark amber color with large tan head and nice lacing. Moderate piney hops flavor - light caramel malt. Nice hoppy beer - basically what I’d expect an "Imperial ESB" to taste like - a malty I2PA.

Bottle, a couple months old, drunk on 6/15/07
I guess they dose this with fresh yeast, at least it says so on the bottle. The head looks good anyways, cascading in to a dark beige, three-finger-sized giant and showing strong retention atop a mostly clear, mahogany-chocolate colored body. Light lacing.
Warm and endearing crystal malts are fully backed by pale malts and even a smidgeon of chocolate. Green, leafy, lightly juicy and even somewhat herbal hops help add balance to the sweetness, though the malt dries out considerably towards the end, with some dry, rather earthy yeast that takes away some brightness. Sweet vanilla emerges with warming, as does a light hint of alcohol. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma with no flaws.
Both bitter and yet oddly sweet at the same time, as citrus (grapefruit and orange, very straightforward) attack the palate, and choco-caramel sweetness rushes to balance. Some breadiness/ a slight overabundance of hard, medium malts builds up while a definite sourish/tacky yeastiness sits on the end. Pine breaks through and acidifies the palate somewhat, as well, on the finish, but the base malt sugars are notably soft and keep the beer drinkable. These "Imperial ESBs" are just inherently flawed, in my book, the harder, breadier, more dry and earthy malts dont match the hops and the drinkability from the amped up alcohol suffers greatly. But for what the brewer aimed to accomplish, it’s done quite well. Still should tone down the hop acidity though. Carbonation is light, yet fairly engaging.

Pour is a re-brown with a huge white head. Aroma is mostly oily hops with some dark malts in there. Flavor is caramel and dark chocolate with some tart berryness. Pretty decent but a little thick and the alcohol does make an appearance.

Good amberish bread over clear red-amber beer. Hops (surprise), cake and hopscake (instead of space-?) grapey, grapefruit, zeste. Bitterish-hoppy flavour imposed upon a rather dull red ale. Quite slick & viscous, (hop)oily. A massive dose of C-hops don’t make for a great beer, please. Thanks to Joss for the series.

Bottle. Grassy honeyish nose.Red chestnut, low creamy head. Honeyish and spicy base, grass counterpoint. Medium to light body. Grassy aftertaste.

Dark and clear copper pour. Off-white, diminishing head. Big hop aroma — grapefruit, citrus, pine, flowers. Moderate nose of sweet caramel and a slight earthiness. The flavor is heavily bitter with some sweetness underneath. Full body and plenty of carbonation. Thick texture, sticky for a moedrately long, dry finish. Very enjoyable.