Benzai’s Biertuin, 2017 version, Thick black, lots of bourbon and great almonds, smooth chocolate, sugary, quite sticky sweet, vanilla, decent.

Poured into a taster showing pitch black with sparse latte colored foam. The nose shows a lot of intense notes of almond and lighter notes of roasted malt and cocoa. The palate is full bodied and barely carbonated with no alcoholic heat. Very strong almond forwardness with a moderately sweet blueberry juice mid and barely noticeable light cocoa bitter notes on the finish.

Bottle @ Seavans tasting, thanks Jon! Dark brown with just a bit if foam there. Nice soft chocolate nose, berry tartness there, marzipan. Taste is dry, good sweetness, almond chocolate, light tartness. Superbly enjoyable, not cloying but works well. Almonds are really upfront, some booze there, pastry-like character. Chocolate almond mousse, thats what it is.

Pitch black color. Massive nose of marzipan, sweet nose but don’t get much stout character. Very sweet mouth with dark chocolate, nice concentrated blueberry juice, marzipan, almonds, the bourbon doesn’t jump out as much. Well balanced. Like don’t love

Taster at the Lincoln Fill Station. Pours black, with a thin, beige head. The aroma is toasted coconut, blueberries, amaretto, and sweet bourbon. Sweet and sugary, with a good boozy finish. Heavy body, with a mild acidity and smooth finish. This is an excellent treatment, and delicious.

Huge almond cookie smell. Slightly less pronounced in the taste, but still very much there. A dose of fruityness that I trust to be blueberries. Bourbon, thick, rich and boozy. Just a tiny bit too gimmicky for me, prefer the regular.

7500th review! Got in a trade with RaulMondesi. 500 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 8/10/2017. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense and rocky tan head with great retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of huge lightly tart/tangy blueberries, fruit skin, marzipan, amaretto, almonds, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, fudge, marshmallow, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with light notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, plum, fig, currant, cherry, date, smoke, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Very minimal booze in the aromas as it warms. Amazing complexity and balance of blueberries, almond extract, dark/roast/bready malt, and bourbon barrel notes; with big strength. Taste of huge lightly tart/tangy blueberries, fruit skin, marzipan, amaretto, almonds, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, fudge, marshmallow, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with light notes of molasses, licorice, raisin, plum, fig, currant, cherry, date, smoke, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Very mild roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of blueberries, fruit skin, marzipan, amaretto, almonds, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, fudge, marshmallow, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, dark/brown bread, light molasses/licorice/dark fruit, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Insane complexity, robustness, and balance of blueberries, almond extract, dark/roast/bready malt, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a solid roast/char and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very smooth, creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that was perfect. Slight slickness, stickiness, chalky roast, fruit tang/acids, and bourbon/oak tannins. Mildly increasing warmth, with minimal barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is a world class barrel aged fruited/flavored imperial stout! All around insane complexity, robustness, and balance of blueberries, almond extract, dark/roast/bready malt, and bourbon barrel flavors; insanely smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. Everything about this is perfectly balanced between nicely jammy berries, almonds, rich base beer malt complexity, and bourbon barrel integration. Not overly roasty/charred on malts, or boozy/tannic on barrels. An extremely mind bowling offering. Equally impressive or better than the base beer, easily.

Bottle at Bumba. Aroma of almond, cinnamon, chocolate, bourbon and vanilla. Flavor has a lot of cinnamon, almond, chocolate, bourbon vanilla and more subtle blueberries. Very good.