Bottle. Pours with a slightly hazed, deep bronze hued body with a medium sized off-white head. Medium retention but ring per sip lace. Aromas are malty, melanoidins, walnuts, toasty, leather, prunes, caramel, molasses, lightly spicy hops, raisins, breakfast cereal. Lots of alcohol but mostly clean. Flavors are of grapenuts, malty, toasty, cereal, molasses, prunes and plums. Medium bitter, dry, slightly malty balance. A touch of warm, fresh baked bread, doughy, light spice (possibly hop). Medium alcohol, complex malt. Good. Nice melanoidins. Dry for what it is, medium bodied, complex, and warming with decent carbonation. Tasty.

Draft. Amber-brown beer with a dark cream head. Toffee and light roast aroma. Toffee and dark fruit flavor. Medium bodied. Toffee and dark fruit lingers with light earth.

Bomber from The Davis Beer Shoppe in Davis, CA. Pours dark copper/amber with a creamy/bubbly beige head. Aroma of caramel with noble hop. Not exactly grassy, but heading that way. Med body. Starts with a lot of caramel, that doesn’t seem sweet, but then it suddenly does. And it suggests darkish fruit. So it’s malty, even a bit darkly so, but there’s grass/herb hop bitter, so as the liquid leaves bitter remains. It’s so hoppy it’s approaching woody. I’d like to say astringent, but the malt/hop play leaves me uncertain there. I love the bitterness. Stretching memory back over 5 years, I was reminded of Uerige, whether because of the sticke or the flavor? Anyway, I tend to think my old rating there sort of fits: "Starts with a sweet plumminess, then an exquisite balance of complex hop. And it stays that way. This is really good."