Sampled at LCRBM 05. Extreme wooden aroma. Cloudy red brown. Wooden cognac flavors, quite sweet. Wooden dusty aftertaste.

December 05 bottle. This poured with no head. The color is dark copper, cannot see through the beer. The aroma is hop heavy, I’m thinking similar to SN Bigfoot. But the taste is great, awesome, surprising. The hops are present and very noticeable. Surprisingly smooth for 11%. The bitterness of the hops is present at the end of the flavor. The other barely wine flavors are subdued in the alcoholic taste department but the sweetness is there. The body is lighter than expected for a beer like this. The palate is a little lacking, with little texture and no essence of the brew felt. I am enjoying this with a sweet navel orange. This is a young brew and I have another bottle of the same batch, which I will re-rate in later. 7/4/9/3/18=4.1

Same batch, same six pack, a bit more than a year later. Bottle was cellared for about 6 months and closet stored (mostly cooler months) for about 6 months. There is no head and just a bit of lacing. Aroma is still full of hops, of course not as fresh, citrus and heavy sweet berry. Richer and deeper malt flavor seem to come out as well, dark fruits, plums. But also what seems to be DMS is setting, a buttery thick molasses aspect. Taste is very light still in comparison to this big beer. Sweet and bitter hop flavor (think bitter slightly brownish strawberries). Then comes an astringent hop finish. After a year seems to be going way downhill. More ratings to follow. 7/3/7/3/15=3.5

Same batch, same 6 pack, cellared for most of the time (about 31 months). Pours with a large head that fades to a thick, glass sticking, lacing. Aroma is musty fruit and "sitting out too long tea" British maltiness." Taste is lots of English tea with BW-like fruit accents. Well... I am not more impressed than before. 2.5 years old and its just getting worse. Fortunately, it seems the DMS-like aspects have faded and turned into a weird British-tea like aspect. 7/3/7/3/14.

Last bottle from the 6 pack, 4.5 years old. Old fruity hops, still decent and a tea-like malts. No sign of oxidation. All and all decent.

Pour is a murkey brown with a small tan head. Aroma is strong caramel matls with a nice earthy hop backbone. Flavor is earthy and fruity with lots of peat-smoke bitterness. Alcohol is there but not a problem. Prob one of the best barleywine’s i have ever had. Yes it is as good as the hype.

A little bit of a disappointment following a lenghty quest to acquire this one. Aromas is of apple, caramel, malt and light spice. Appearance is brown with tawny red highlights. Flavor is apple with sweet caramel flavored malts and a cider pucker that overpowers a bit at the end. Carbonation is a bit higher than expected and a little obnoxious. Slight viscosity overcome by carbonation. This would be much better without astringent pucker that detracts from overall enjoyment.

02/15/07 Aged one year. Poured into a Maudite snifter. Tan pancake head with excellent retention leaves creme brulee lacing. Caramel aromas. Smooth and creamy with a slight metallic hop finish which detracts slightly. Sticky. Aroma and overall rating have slipped a point... 01/21/06. Poured into a St. Bernardus snifter. Quickly dissipating head. Deep magenta. Thick. Sweet and malty. Long, bitter hop and alcohol finish. Will age a bottle to see if it can balance out. 8/4/7/4/17 = 4.

Paid $2.50 for a 12-oz bottle. Pours ruby-amber with a small tan head. Light, sweet maltiness in the nose. Tasty malty and dark fruts. Not one of the greatest beers of all time, IMO, but it’s good.

Bottle at the RBG Low Countries 2005 tasting session
Amber to black, muddy body. Fully, diminishing head. No lace. Nose of molasses, straw, flowers, liquor, ... Heavly sweet initial flavour. Moderately sweet long intense finish. Quite good balanced. Very fully bodied and a little bit astringent. Lively carbonation. A little bit to alcoholic and intense for me, but yeah, that’s what barley wines supposed to be, aren’t they?