Tap at the Hanging Bat, Edinburgh - 08/12/12. Mid black with a good tan head that retains very well. Nose is dark malts, liqourice, molasses. Taste comprises dark malt, sugars, chocolate, booze. Full bodied, smooth on the palate, soft carbonation, boozey finish. Rich complex, boozey, carried off pretty well!

330ml bottle. Pours black with a thin head. Aroma is burnt alcohol and sticky orange hops. Taste has orange and cocoa. Sweet, warming alcohol finish with a little coffee on the aftertaste. Flat, another Arbor with carbonation issues.

Cask at Pig’s Ear Beer festival 2012, Hackney, London. A black coloured pour with a small beige head on top. Sweet, malty, dark fruit aroma. Tastes of dark fruit, malty, slight sweetness, rich and boozy. Decent barleywine.

12th November 2012 Euston Tap. Opaque black beer, tidy little tan head. Palate is soft with fine carbonation. Nice smooth dark malts are seamlessly integrated with various fruits. The dominant fruit is smooth blackcurrant but there is a little candy fruits underneath as well. Mild aniseed and licorice. Semi dry finish. Very drinkable and tasty, not had a better black barleywine I can recall.

8th June 2019
A 2012 bottle. Semi opaque dark brown beer, small bubbly tan head. Smooth palate, semi dry, reasonable fine carbonation. Licorice malts, spicy, a little caramel sweetness. Dark fruits, still blackcurrant-ish but perhaps not as dominant as it once was. Some toffee on the finish. Clear signs of age here but still tasty.