Bottle - Vintage 1995 - Salty Skunky, soy sauce and oily dark notes. Inky brown black with no head. Umami, soy sauce and a salty finish. Odd dark weird sweet, salty notes. Not that great.

Bottle split at Bruce’s pad, here’s a glass raised to Reluctant Scoops for getting this one to me, 24/10/14. 1994 Vintage. Extremely dark mahogany brown/light black with tan edgework. Nose is rich dark fruits, sherry, chocolate, plums, light smoke, woody rinse, booze tunes. Taste comprises soy sauce, sherry, rich chocolate streak, more plums, dates, prunes, figs, brown sugar. Full bodied, fine carbonation - slightly viscous, warming alcohol and sweet licks in the close. Solid stuff, looks like we found a bottle that has aged gracefully when you compare our ratings to most others in recent times. Cheers Scoops!

Bottle thanks to a Mr Boris. Oily viscous caramel brown coloured pour with a short lived light tan head. Aroma is big tangy fruit! Dried berry raisin, caramel . alcohol is noticeable on the nose with vinous dried fruits, booze and earthy choc. Vanilla. Flavour is big smooth! Tart berry, caramel, malty and some liquorice. Has held up to the age very well. Sweet, full bodied and smooth. Bit of Turkish delight. An absolute treat. Very lucky to try this.

Bottle shared in London - big thanks to Colin for this whale. Vintage 1994 - the original. Pours flat black, oily, with pretty much no head. The nose has some tangy dark fruits, cocoa, tar, figs. Hugely sweet flavor with lots of dark fruits, prunes, figs, dark cherries. Full bodied, oily and chewy with soft carbonation. Warming finish with lots of syrupy fruits, raisins, more figs and dates, some tangy berries. Great stuff. Quite dynamic. Has held up quite well.

Bottle, 1994 thanks to Colin. It pours murky dark brown with minimal head. The nose is rich, umami, treacle, toffee, soy, oily, fruit cake, dark fruit, vanilla and honey. The taste is smooth, syrupy, oily, treacle, umami, light soy, touch of acidify, cocoa, plum and Chinese duck and plum sauce with a smooth, warming finish. Full body, fine carbonation and oily mouth-feel. Great depth and long finish. Great fun to try.

The archetypical ’extreme beer’ from the nineties, tasted at seventeen years of age (the beer, that is, not me). No head as expected (and intended), only a couple of beige, small bubbles of air instantly dissappearing entirely; colour a very dark burgundy, like an old port wine, almost black, no fizz. Extremely strong aroma - and by ’extremely’, I mean it was not only noticeable, but even overpowering from a yard away. Smells of soy sauce, fish sauce, old port wine, balsamic vinegar, dried mushrooms, chocolate ’jenever’, oak, brown sugar, vanilla, banana liqueur, peat, liquorice and Worcestershire sauce, as well as something ’animalistic’ not unlike barnyard or - excusez le mot - menure. Complex and dense taste, candied fruit sweetness, very thick and oily mouthfeel (almost chewy), chocolatey malts, candi syrup, lots of soy sauce with a weird - and actually rather unpleasant - saltiness, a taste fortunately rarely encountered in beer; liquorice too, figs, port wine, some wood, finish very long and lasting, sticky, alcoholic but not really astringent, as a very old sherry or madera, lots of retronasal spiciness (thyme, ginger, cloves), citrussy hops, residual sweetness and again that disturbing saltiness. I was a bit horrified to find some solid chunks of protein in the bottom of the bottle which I ingested by accident. Glad I finally tasted this classic, I cannot honestly say I really liked it in all respects, but I can imagine it tasted a lot better in the nineties and I admit I was quite fascinated by it.

This appears to be a 1997 vintage (the year I turned 16). Aroma has lots of roast character and some meatiness but it isn?t complete soy sauce, only a moderate amount. Medium light chocolate with quite a bit of alcohol. No maple character at all but there is some light smokiness. Pours an inky black with a slight oil sheen and no head whatsoever. No lacing and long legs. Flavor has a medium sweetness with some faint maple notes. Medium roast notes with some dark chocolate character. Some dark fruit notes of cherries, berries and prunes. Quite a bit of meatiness and soy sauce, but its not as bad as I was led to believe. Moderate bitterness with quite a bit of alcohol. Lingering chocolate and soy sauce. Mouthfeel is full bodied with pretty much no carbonation. Medium low astringency and moderate alcohol warmth. Overall, an odd beer and better than I expected. I really wanted to try this beer due to all the bad reviews; its not great but better than I expected. There is definitely some meatiness and soy sauce but it is not nearly as strong as I expected. Still quite a bit of chocolate and sweet roast notes.

ery dark brown, almost black. No head, but a little fizz when bottle was opened. Intense chocolate aroma with soy sauce and napthaline. Vinous alcohol aromas with licorice. Very complex.