Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9

Bottle poured into a snifter. Pitch black with a fizzy beige head. Aroma is chocolate, port, coffee, vanilla. Initial taste is much the same, with a little alcohol burn. Fades to all of the same. Consistent throughout. Full body with carbonation that bites just a bit. Fantastic stuff.

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

sampled many years ago - going back and ticking some that i missed - very lovely beer - have also tried a few of the variants of this

On my non vintage check in of this I wrote that the first time I had it was 2012 but I think it was more like 2010 or earlier. First ""whale"". Much nicer outta the bottle than draft. Soft chocolate and espresso, chicory, oak notes.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Bottled. 2016 re-rate, had a bad bottle in 2009. Dark pour, very little head. Some chocolate but mostly dark fruit and moleasses. Lots of alcohol present. Really more of a cordial than a beer.

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

Bottle. Deep, dark Color with a large chocolate colored head. Aroma is alcohol, dried fruit and mocha. Taste is strong, complex and very tasty.

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9

JET black.........next to no head.
aroma of chocolate, and licorice, tiny bit of booze. palate is thick.....nice and thick!
flavour is once again, of chocolate, lots of black licorice, and a tiny bit of smoke, for 18% man this hides it well......excellent beer! one of my favs!

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

12 oz bottle. 2003 gold cap vintage consumed 12/05/06. Poured very dark. Actually it looks pitch black. The brown head drummed up during the pour didn't last too long. There was a bit of lacing. Three sniffs of the nose yielded three different aromas. It started as sweet molasses. The next added a fair amount of alcohol. By the third more malt complexity surfaced with dark fruit, semi sweet chocolate, a touch of raisin and more molasses. By now the beer's temperature was about 60F before I dive into the first sip. The mouth feel wasn't nearly as syrupy as I was expecting. There are several malt type flavors hitting my taste buds: molasses, lots of raisins, dates, a hint of caramel and toffee. The alcohol is pretty apparent. It really warms as the sips progress. It could use another couple years of aging.

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

Bottle, 355 ml, courtesy of Eric. Shared with hm and others. 2015 vintage. Dark brown with almost no head. Wood and chocolate, drinks nicely. Somewhat thin by now. Quite good for the age.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5

I take this 12 oz bottle out of the cellar, no clue where or when I got it. Pouring inside of a New Belgium globe glass, it is a a dark mahogany brown with no head at talk about. The scent give off chocolate, wheat bread and some woodiness from somewhere. I take a drink, well, I will say it has held up well. Baking chocolate, pecans, toasted bread, cane syrup, wood again, cardboard and a bare touch of berries. Somewhat bitter and there is a noticeable burn as it goes down. Wish the bottle gave the ABV but it does not. A fine imperial stout.