Bomber from Bine & Vine. Pours dark brown with a light tan head. Aromas of peat smoke and malt. Med ++ body. Flavor is very peaty. This is a competitor for the old Brewdog paradox ales. For me the flavor is peat smoke and malt. Might be a fruit aspect. Or not. This is strongly flavored. So much so I’m not really finding that 13% heat. I think I’m interpreting heat as peat. This is really strongly flavored. Gonna do it tho. I’m positive. This rates high for the use of fresh barrels! Fresh in that they are freshly emptied!

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 10/14/2016. Pours fairly crystal clear dark ruby red color with a 2 finger dense light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big wood/peat smoke, salt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, toasted oak, brown bread, leather, and tobacco; with lighter notes of nuttiness, raisin, fig, date, citrus peel, pine, and oak/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, scotch barrel, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop notes; with great strength. Taste of huge wood/peat smoke, salt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, toasted oak, brown bread, leather, and tobacco; with lighter notes of nuttiness, raisin, fig, date, citrus peel, pine, and oak/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate pine/citrus peel bitterness and scotch/tannic oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of wood/peat smoke, salt, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, toasted oak, brown bread, leather, tobacco, dark fruit, citrus peel, pine, and oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, scotch barrel, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness and tannic oak/scotch spiciness balance; with zero astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitter/tannic notes, increasing through the glass. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/sticky/tannic, and lightly slick/resinous balanced mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden, a small warmth lingering after the finish; with minimal barrel booziness. Overall this is an outstanding scotch barrel aged strong ale! All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, scotch barrel, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV. The nose is dominated by scotch barrel notes, but the flavors are much more balanced. Very toned down on the hop character/bitterness versus the base beer, but still noticeable under all of the scotch and malt complexity. A highly enjoyable offering.

22oz bomber pours with a clear deep copper to amber colored body that supports a nice near tight tan head of foam. The aroma offers up a quick fleeting pulse of malts and molasses before thick velvety smooth smoke and spikier spicy peatiness just up and take over. A few more pulls and some concentration and malts and molasses can be detected toward the end of the peaty draw. The taste delivers an initial smooth malt sweetened peaty thicket of rich flavor interwoven with modest levels of smooth supple smokiness. To midway the peat dominates in a restrained fashion and eventually relents as thin streams of malts and molasses can be sensed from time to time. A few swigs later and I get resiny pine sap hoppiness that bubbles forward creating another nice facet to the experience. This is a dandy sipper, but if you’re not in the mood for peat or a bit of smoke then this won’t do. This works just fine for me. Damn!