7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

22 ounce bottle into snifter, no bottle dating. Pours hazy dark ruby red color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of big toffee, caramel, molasses, toast, biscuit, nuttiness, brown sugar, raisin, prune, light chocolate, light roast, floral, and toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good complexity of big dark/toasted malt aromas; with good strength. Taste of toffee, caramel, toast, biscuit, molasses, nuttiness, brown sugar, raisin, floral, light pine, chocolate, light roast, and toasted earthiness. Minimal earthy pine bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toffee, toast, molasses, brown sugar, biscuit, nuttiness, light pine, floral, chocolate, and toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice balance and complexity of dark/toasted malt flavors; with a decent amount of earthy hop balance and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied; with a creamy and slick mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a nice strong ale. Nice balance and complexity of big dark/toasted malt flavors with light hop balance; and very smooth to sip on. I would definitely put this under the old ale style rather than wheatwine; but other than that, it was nicely enjoyable.