Rating #3800, a special beer here. Deep dark brown coloured body with absolutely no head or movement at all - soy sauce coloured, interesting. Aroma of alcohol, figs, pit fruits, raisins, nuts, complex spices and a bit of sour grapes, but not much - definitely some meat smells as well. Medium-bodied; Strong soy and Worcestershire sauce flavour at first with some apples, pit fruits and roasted malt flavour taste behind, but this is definitely strong, pungent and unflattering. Aftertaste shows a little fruits, a lot of earth and even more soy sauce flavour with meat added. Overall, not a very good beer - there is no carbonation, a bit of oaky and liqour flavours, but the Worcestershire and soy sauce notes are a bit too potent for me. Add this to the price and you can definitely pass this one up. A bad rating for #3800, I wish I would have had something a bit better in my stash. I sampled this 37,5 cL ’split’ bottle purchased from Healthy Spirits in San Francisco, California on 05-March-2012 for US$15.99 sampled at home in Washington on 11-February-2013.

0.375l corked bottle. Oh my! Been saving this for some time now, but think it's about to pop it. Have to admit that it does not start of too good. Had to struggle to remove the cork, and I did not even get a tiny pop when it finally came off. No head what so ever indicates that the carbonation is most likely long gone John, but the beer itself is a deep dark dark brown thing - impossible to look through. The aroma however is most definitely not disappointing: it has lots of sweet caramel, dark sticky glazed fruits, a somewhat strange acidic lactal touch that I guess comes from the barrels, some licorice, dark acidic wood and just all in all it's quite a interesting and nice aroma, but I'm a bit more concerned now regarding the taste. It's time to taste the thing! Oh no.. Clearly off :( Oh my that's a big big bummer. Acetone and a sourness that just screams I-N-F-E-C-T-E-D. No, oh my that's a shame indeed. It's not completetely ruined, but this is not how this fantastic beer should taste. Still, I get some tones of a fantastic concentrated and sharp barley wine. Caramel, sour wood and Asian spices. This is something I have to get a fresh bottle of and rate again. I really feel that it deserves that. This bottle however, it does not deserve a destiny down my kitchen sink, so I'm going to make a concentrated vinegar out of this. Could be interesting? 09.11.2012

On tap @ Encinitas Ale House - brandy barrel. Dark red-brown color, cloudy. No head. Aroma’s: alcohol, booze, medium sweet, with chocolate, booze and raisin retronasal. Flavor is medium sweet, some sourness, raisin. Strong alcohol feel, medium bodied. Finishes very boozy. Like drinking hard liquor with bubbles. Not for me.

2008 vintage 750ml A vigorous pour produces a viscous black liquid with a handful of bubbles that dissipate almost instantly. Smells of oaky vanilla with a boozy edge. Hints of chocolate, caramel, brown sugar, dark fruit and tobacco round out the nose quite nicely. The flavor is sweet like an aged barleywine. Sweet sugar and caramel mixed with some vinous notes. A touch of ethanol and a nice flavor of dark fruits, grapes, chocolate, and tobacco. Medium to thick body with a sweet syrupy mouthfeel and not a lick of carbonation. I’ve sat on this bottle for quite some time fearing the disappointment that would ensue with the inevitable flat bottle. The lack of carbonation ruins the mouthfeel on this beer and makes a sweet beer even stickier. This smells wonderful! It’s too bad I couldn’t get a proper sample of this beer because I’ll bet its really great!

Bottle, thanks to Leighton at THE Barley Wine Tasting, August 2012. It pours very dark brown, with pretty much no head. The nose is roasty, caramel, toffee, light treacle, chewy malt, oak and alcohol. The taste is sticky toffee, caramel, light spice, oak, some alcohol warmth, light vanilla, treacle and boozy fruit cake. Full body and low, prickly carbonation. Flavoursome, but perhaps a bit too sweet for me. The bourbon version is a better, more balanced beer in my opinion. An enjoyable beer nonetheless.