8.8

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

Bottle shared. Pours dark black with a reddish hues and a small brown head. Aromas of honey, caramel, raisins, vanilla, molasses, toffee. Taste has honey, toffee, caramel, dark fruits, vanilla, booze, light bitterness in the back.

8.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled in 5/2017. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense and fluffy tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big caramel, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, brown sugar, molasses, raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, smoke, oak char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Minimal booze in the aromas as it warms. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel notes; with big strength. Taste of huge caramel, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, brown sugar, molasses, raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apricot, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, and dark/brown bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, smoke, oak char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy, roast, charred bitterness; and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, brown sugar, molasses, dark fruit, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, dark/brown bread/crust, coconut, licorice, light smoke/char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a fantastic roast/hop bitter/sweet, and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying/acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitternes and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety/bready, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 11.5%, with minimal lingering barrel booze after the finish. Overall this is an incredible barrel aged black English barleywine. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish; fantastic soft/silky feel for the ABV. Perfectly balanced between super rich malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel presence/integration. Not overly sweet/heavy from lingering dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazingly spot on style example for a black/roasted version. Doesn't feel like a stout.

8

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

650 ml bottle, thanks to Sander! Dark brown body, with a tiny, brown head. Aroma of toffee, cocoa powder, bourbon, dark chocolate, coffee, some soy sauce. Tastes similar, with a bit more booze. Full, oily mouthfeel, with a low carbonation. Finishes roasty, a bit sweet, quite dry, wooden, with coffee, cocoa powder, some tobacco, some soy sauce. Tasty. Heavy and rich, typical for the style, while also pretty roasty, not too sweet. Not my favourite Cycle, but another rich sipper. Score: 8 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 16

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

0,66l bottle at home shared by Sander, big thanks. black color, small coffee colored head. smells lactose, milky, soy sauce, milk chocolate, marzipan, nutty, bourbon. nice smell. full body, soft carbonation. tastes soy sauce, milk chocolate, marzipan, bourbon, sherry, spices. finishes light to medium sweet with notes of soy sauce, bourbon and some marzipan notes. very nice one, good stuff, bit heavy on the soy notes, but good to drink 8, 4, 8, 3, 17

7.5

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

Many thanks! Large bottle sampled. Black for some reason with zero head. Way too alcoholic in the nose, boozy chocolate, varnish, molasses,… Taste is some umami, soy sauce, chocolate, molasses, umami really builds, soy sauce, alcoholic,..; Molasses & soy sauce body, too alcoholic, decent in general, disappointing coming from Cycle.

8

4.3. Dosc agresywne, ale poza tym super beczkowosc, kawa, jakas melasa, niemalo ciala, dlugie migdalowe posmaki. Czad

8

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

How: Bottle.
Where: Mästare på cycl(e)ing tasting, 2018-03-17.
Appearance: Dark brown colour with a tan head.
Aroma: Bourbon, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, sugary.
Body: Full body, low carbonation.
Flavour: Bourbon, some fruit, chocolate, caramel, sugar, alcohol.

8.5

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

From 650 ml bottle thanks to C!! Almost black color with beige brown head. Malty aroma, light roasted, coffee, milk chocolate, caramel, honey, dark dried fruits, bourbon, wood. Sweet and light bitter taste. Full silky oily body with soft carbonation.

8.5

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

Bottle thanks to Juan! Pours clear reddish black, light creamy brown head, dissipates slowly, nice lacing. Aroma is mocha, cocoa, bourbon, vanilla. Flavor is fully sweet, medium bitter, rich. Full body. This is a pretty high SRM, full bodied, well, stout like barleywine. Guess that is what one should expect given the two brewers in the collaboration. Its quite good, but I am left wondering what they could have done if they had just both played fully to their strengths and made an imp.