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

Bottle thx Ingo 2024-03-02 Göteborg
AR: sweet plums, dust, British fruit cake with loads of raisins
AP: dark amber, tiny cream brown lid
F: sweet plums, dust, British fruit cake with loads of raisins

March 17, 2017
Bottle@yesprs - Orange Amber pour with white head. Sweet malty with notes of caramel and toffee, some fudge, a plethora of dark dried fruit, some brown sugar, light spice into the close. Decent.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Bottle 0,33 ltr: Cloudy amber colored brew with an heavy sweet taste with an overall present delightful burning alcohol. Load of hints of dried fruit, caramel and butterscotch.

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

Bottle (2017 vintage). Amber colour, small beigeish head. Aroma is dried fruits, some ripe fruits, mild toasted and some fudge tones to it. Flavour is zest, some marmalade, mild alcohol sweetness with some sweet malts and a bit dried fruits to it too. Big and bold.

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

(Bottle, 2015 vintage) Hazy reddish brown colour with brief, foamy, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with treacle-toffee, dried fruit, prunes, figs, apricot marmalade, caramel, dark bread, orange peel and roasted nuts. Malty, fruity, vinous taste with notes of treacle-toffee, dried fruit, figs, raisins, caramel, dark bread, orange peel, nuts, a touch of liquorice and a vinous finish with a gentle spicy bitterness. Almost full body, sweet. Complex and powerful, still in good balance. Solid and well made English barley wine. Very nice.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3

2017 11.2 oz bottle dumped on 12/18/22. Clear, ruby-tinged maroon-amber. Small, dark beige head to ring. Smells oxidized, sugary, unpleasant. Tastes oxidized, sugary, unpleasant. Sad the fate of Thomas Hardys. It's just been juggled around and is just a shade of its former Eldridge Pope self. They should just let this one die a noble death and stop doing a terrible job trying to rebrew it. Or, alternatively, actually brew a good beer true to the original? I guess Interbrau and O Hanlons aren't good enough breweries to do that. Down the drain it goes.

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

0.33 l bottle from 'Slik for Voksne', 2016 vintage, best before November 2026. Hazy, ruby with a few off-white bubbles on top of it. Sweetish-malty, gently fruity and a bit boozy aroma of strawberry jam, raisins, prunes, caramel, honey and some bourbon (?). Fairly sweet, malty, gently fruity taste of raisins, strawberry jam, prunes, vanilla, honey, bourbon and some orange peel, followed by a long, moderately bitter, gently boozy finish. Full body, almost oily mouthfeel, very soft carbonation. Expectedly rich, saturating and boozy sipper, aged very well. One to enjoy in front of the fireside, not by the pool.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Aroma: Dried fruits with oak and sweet berries. Flavour: Sweet malt and sweet fruits with dried fruits and brown sugar. Aftertaste is very sweet with an alcoholic warmth. Colour: Dark orange brown with an offwhite head. From: Bottle as Thomas Hardy’s Ale Vintage 2016 bottle no.: 21468 (tasted 2022)

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Pours a pretty murky dark orange, with just a thin layer of head that disappears very quickly. It's ok not to have much head with such abv, but the color is really unattractive. Not very intense aroma for such a strong beer. Strong chocolate notes, fruity notes (red/dried fruits), and a background alcohol/warming feel. Taste notes follow the aroma, with not too much depth in what you would except to be a complex beer. Also, not super defined, with a kinda vague fruitiness where i couldn't pick anything specific. Overall pretty sweet in both taste and aftertaste, but still well balanced. Clear but never overwhelming alcohol presence. Gets too earthy/muddy in the last sips. Dense bodied with quite light carbonation. Overall slightly creamy, but the beer somehow doesn't feel 'full'. The overall experience was certainly not unpleasant, but i was expecting much more.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from Systembolaget. (vintage 2015, bottle 7878) Hazy reddish/amber with almost no head. Sweet with caramel, dried fruit, malt and notes of warming alcohol. Quite nice.