Bottle. A copper body, clear, with a decent beige head. Roasted, sweetish nose with dried fruits and caramel. Full-bodied and a bit sticky mouthfeel with flavors of roasted malt, dried fruits and dark sugars. Roasted bitterness. Pleasant finish with dried fruits, sugar and roasted bitterness. A really pleasant one, possibly deserving a higher score. (080905)

Big beige head. Deep dark red translucent body. Sweet malty aroma with earthy toffee and floral hop notes. Dry-sweet roasty earthy malt taste with chocolate notes. Soft, mild mouthfeel, with what feels like mild alcohol burn (at 5.3%?). Dry burnt earthy aftertaste. Very nice! (0.5l bottle, Systembolaget, Göteborg.)

Bottle. Pours a clear brown color with a msall off-white head. Has a malty caramel aroma with some hints of chocolate and also some fruity hints. Sweet malty fruity caramel flavor with some hoppy hints. Sweetish malty caramel finish with some bitterness in the aftertaste.

(50 cl bottle from Systembolaget) On April 28, 2008. BB March 2009. Clear copper color, light brown head. Malty, fruity and a bit hoppy scent. Malty, chocolate, roasted, sweet scent. Medium mouthfeel, medium bitterness. Grainy, roasted and chocolate aftertaste.

Bottle. Aroma of sweetish dark fruit backed by some chocolate. Dark mahogany color with an off-white head that quickly collapsed. Thin to medium body with moderate carbonation. The flavor is dark toasted malt with a medicinal tinge. Coarse chocolate notes and enough bitter to be noticeable. The finish is relatively dry, maybe a bit earthy, and the chocolate and bitter persist. It’s really very drinkable. Brilliant, even.

Clear dark amber body with a small off-white head. Sweet malty caramel aroma. Sweet caramel and english malt flavor with some light grassy and floral hops.

Pours mahogany into an English pint. Offwhite micro head with excellent retention leaves film as it slowly recedes. Roasted malt aromas. Upfront sweet creamy caramel which pretty much stays through the finish. Fairly one dimensional -- was hoping for a little more bite, but certainly was able to drain the glass quite quickly.

Wow, strong ale, eh? Not really sure it fits into this style. 16.9 oz bottle that pours out mostly clear brown with slight red hue that gets the color close to amber. It has a thin tan colored head too. The aroma has a couple of malt notes such as sweet malts with a hint of roastiness, biscuit malts and vague dark fruitiness as well. Nice malty flavor that yields snippets of roasted malts, biscuit malts and a hint of caramel malts. About midway a more roasted malt surfaces along with the vague dark fruitiness picked up in the nose. Very tasty brew.

For the record: my bottle carries the name of Monkey Wrench Dark Ale Dark red-foxy beer with medium yellow-beige head. Lots of caramel, treacle even, tinge of moccha, and as the Bitter just tasted, green leaves. Sure it’s one of the typical UK hops. Sweet, portwine with definitely oxydized (malt) notes (strange, as the beer is given good for another 6 months). A bit of treacle, watered down to the limit, molasses. Roasted, certainly, but I’m still looking for the fruit. Unless they mean fruit as they mean "Cadbury’s", when they say "chocolate". Watery syrup. Slight burning in the end. Rather poor, compared to a good German Dunkles. As to "Strong"... All the same, thanks DanP. You sure warned me. There must be something wrong in the UK. If a Yorkshire brewery calls its beer Leann these days,... Poor Paisley, I’d start having pity...

A deep brown, Quite hoppy witha hint of chocolatew, sweet with tones of treacle