Tåkete mørk brun med lavt beige skum som blir fort borte. Lukter portvin, cherry, trevirke, så fatlagringen har gitt resultater, gjær og svisker. Middels pluss i fylde. Tørket frukt, svisker, dadler, vanilje, cherry, fat. Lett bitterhet.

Vintage bottle of two years old bought from a private collector. Loosely structured, milky, creamy, greyish white head requiring a bit of forcing to develop but retaining well after that, with a thin greyish veil in the middle and a steady rim on the edges as well as a thin but persistent layer of lacing; translucent bronze robe with brownish red - burgundy hue, almost clear but made more or less hazy by minuscule bits of dead yeast floating around everywhere. Powerful bouquet of raisins soaked in cognac, sweet sherry or even old ruby port, kahlua, caramel candy, fried apples, candied cherries, brown sugar, vanilla, candied fig, honey, melting fondant chocolate, ginger, cinnamon, old and wet wood, bourbon, madera sauce, fried mushrooms. Candied sweetness in the onset, lots of residual brown sugar, hints of fig, raisin and dried banana with an underlying sourishness for balance, softly carbonated (even lacking a bit in carbonation), with a smooth, lean mouthfeel which, due to the slight undercarbonation, feels thinner than it could have been. Caramelly malt sweetness dominates the middle, with some chocolatey accents as well as ongoing candi sugar sweetness and dried fruit sensations; in the end, the drying wood effects come through, trying to balance the initial wave of sweetness but in a less succesful way than I have experienced in other batches of this series. Varnish-like solvents abound along with vanilla-ish aspects of the oak and a strong sherry-like flavor, further accentuated by the ageing, which in this type of beers also results in sherry-like effects. This sherry taste clearly dominates and sticks in the throat after swallowing, along with persisting caramelly malt sweetness, a dash of earthy hops not succeeding in providing enough bitterness and, unsurprisingly, a strong alcohol warmth, becoming a tad astringent on the root of the tongue after a while but otherwise not bothering me too much. Pleasant and fairly complex sipper like all batches in this series, but in this case, the ageing does not seem to have done it much good, as it is already a tad thinned and undercarbonated; yet the maderisation does accentuate the sherry flavor to the point where the aftertaste is very much like a sweet sherry. Interesting, but still one of the lesser batches to me, also in being insufficiently dried by wood tannins, so that the very sweet character of the basic beer keeps prevailing.

Bottle. Pours quite hazy reddish chestnut, small beige head, some lacing. Aroma of sherry, toffee, bourbon, vanilla, date, raisin. Flavor is quite sweet, sherry, dark dried fruits, minimal bitterness. Medium body. Definitely oxidized, but since I just bought it last week that ain’t my fault. Still a solid quad. Some lingering heat.

Bottle at home. Has a slightly hazy deep mahogany color with a small light brown head that fades fast. Complex aroma of dried fruit, liqueur, plums, red wine, licorice, oak, alcohol, heather and brown sugar. Sweet flavor with dried fruit, liqueur, brown sugar, oak, licorice and berries. Has a silky mouth feel, full-bodied and a light bitterness. A very complex ale, and is quite sweet.

Bottle from Craigs, dregs run tasting. Pours brown with a thin tan head. Aromas of toffee and dried fruit, oak. Taste is sherry, prunes, vanilla. Boozy finish.