7.2

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Keg at the Beavertown fourth birthday party. Pours murky amber-brown with a small, off-white head. Heavy peat pervades this one, with notes of bonfire and light toffee as well. Full bodied, somewhat chewy, with fine carbonation. Finishes with a little boozy warmth, toasted toffee, bread, ample peat smoke character. Fun stuff. Quite hearty overall.

7.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

On tap at Beavertown 4th birthday event. Thanks to Matteo tcp aroma. It’s OK actually sweet not too peaty. Sweetness barbecue sweet sauce. It’s quite intense. Pretty good.

6.5

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Keg at the 4th birthday. Nut brown coloured pour hazed loose off white head. Aroma is big dirty dung, peat, farmyard, berry woody. Flavour is peat smoke. Berry, woody, peat, woody, tannin. Palate is semi sweet, woody, lowish carbonation.

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Keg at Beavertown. It pours murky deep brown with a bubbly dirty beige head. The nose is big, rich, unctuous, smoky peat, medicinal, oily, smoked meats, fruit cake, candied stuff, fudge, TCP, honeycomb and earth. The taste is rich, oily, boosty, dark fruits, fruit cake, date, candied peel, plum, chewy, big smoked pleated action, each, toast, rich whisky. Full body, fine carbonation and oily mouth - peel. Rich and massive on the peat! So medicinal and delicious!

4

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

Tried at the Deepings Beer Festival, and couldn’t even finish a half. Murky brown colour. Aroma and taste a touch sour.

7

Like a peaty whisky without the alcohol burn… Weird!

5.8

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

Keg at the bow bar... Copper... Thin white lacing... Massive soft iodine nose... Soft fruits.. Soft toffee.. Big soft smoke.. Very peaty.. But no where near as unpleasant as some.. Its low in beer.. Very soft whisky Earlier Rating: 10/22/2013 Total Score: 2.7Cask at the Stockbridge tap... Deep copper... Thin tan head... Massive massive whisky light smoke nose... Deep malts... Massive whisky... Little iodine... Little smoke... Not bad... But really not me

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Keg at bow bar. Pours hazy deep amber, nose is peaty, tcp, sherry, taste is dry, peaty, sweet caramel, toffee, citrus. Earlier - Cask at cloisters. Sweet sickly caramel, light fruit, pineapple, bitter, chewy toffee. 3.8 Not peated?

6.9

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Keg at the bow bar. Pours hazy amber, thin bubbly white head. Aromas are wood, whisky. Taste is very whisky driven, woody. Chewy. Medium to thin texture. Challenging.
Earlier Rating: 11/20/2013 Total Score: 3.9
Cask at The Hanging Bat. Pours clear amber with a thin white head, nice lacing. Rich fruit pudding nose, and whisky spirit alcohol at the back. Perhaps my sense have been confused by the mint stout, but I’m not getting massive peat or smoke! Very nice barley wine though.

5.2

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

On keg at the Bow Bar. Appearance - like dirty honey. Decent head. Nose - iodine and sweet whisky alcohol. Taste - peat and salt. It’s islay whisky. Palate - close to full bodied but there’s no point going any further as everything is so dominated by the islay cask that it is merely a whisky in beer form rather than the underlying style. Ian, big man, I’m sorry but this is a waste of a beer and a whisky barrel. For one of the best brewers in Scotland this is your worst. Overall - i really don’t like this. It’s not that I don’t like islay whisky as I do. It’s not that I don’t like barley wine - it’s one of my preferred styles. The reason I really don’t like this is that it epitomises the whole issue I have with barrel aged beer. My point is this. The brewer carefully chooses his malt bill and when his hop additions happen. The brewer chooses the temperature and timing of all of the processes up until before fermentation. During fermentation the brewer chooses the yeast carefully that will accentuate the notes he wants to bring forward. Then he throws it all in the lap of the gods and puts in in a barrel that has had a spirit in it before. So the spirit overpowers everything in there to the extent that everything that the brewer was trying to produce has been blanketed by the power of the spirit. An islay whisky barrel has the strongest influence and as such it makes the underlying beer irrelevant. So in a blind taste who could tell that this was a barley wine in the first place? Who could tell the difference between this and a Scotch Ale or a bitter or a stout except for appearance. We may as well just brew a tasteless beer; certainly don’t hop it, if you’re going to chuck it in an islay barrel.