22oz bottle pours an oily, murky black with some thin, white head. Nose had a lot of dark fruit, cherries and pomegranate, some malt too, booze as well, mild toast, a little Kahlua. Flavor has a lot of that tart dark fruit, cherries, pomegranate, cranberry, raisins, molasses, a little toffee. Full bodied, boozy, sticky and tart finish. Very strange and probably my least favorite in the series.

Bottle. A- Cocoa, coffee, molasses, roasty, smoke, alcohol, dark fruits. A- Black color, dark brown liquid, brown head. T- Cocoa, molasses, roasted, robust, slightly malty, slightly bitter, alcohol, dark berries, smokey. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, smooth finish. O- I think my score should actually be higher than it is for two reasons. One, I drank this bottle fresh and didn’t wait until the best after date (8 months from now) and two, I had expectations that were way too high. A great beer but will be better the next time. My only major letdown in all the sediment in the appearance. I hate that look, otherwise solidly brewed.

22oz black waxed bomber pours with a mahogany colored body that supports a light mocha head. The aroma offers up chocolate and spicy oak as well as vanilla, some spices and then big berry notes seemingly trying to mask the firm degree of booziness. The taste begins with chocolate and chocolate brownie and then it quickly gets into increasing levels of berry rich fruitiness and beery tartness. It picks up raisins and more chocolate to midway with thin undercurrents of spicy oak, vanilla, molasses and bourbon. This is smooth and balanced with booze, bourbon and beer as well as creating a berry tartness that is in pleasing contrast to the sweet vanilla, molasses, chocolate and malts. Pretty solid and I would think a year of age will smooth this out into a beauty.

On tap at Harry’s Hofbrau. Nose is strong bouzy bourbon and overt vanilla. Slight fruit and moderate low chocolate. Deep, deep brown with brown head that leaves a collar of large bubbles. Taste is massive booze with syrupy chocolate.

From a 22 oz bottle shared in Denver. Aroma of cocoa. Flavors of tart cherry. Light bitter roasted finish.

On tap at Deschutes, pours black with a small beige head. Nose is very complex, with notes of cocoa nibs, bourbon and vanilla. Flavour is very complex, with a mix of cocoa nibs, vanilla, bourbon and pineapple. Strong flavours but with a fairly light, soft palate. Very well-balanced. Excellent stuff.

Just hit Juneau today.
Best after \"16 June 15\". Well, I got another one to test after that date, why not open one up now. Okay, here’s the fresh version of this beer.
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a nice gentle dark brown close to black color with a one finger white to off white foamy head that concaves around the sides of the glass in a nice foamy fashionable way.
The aroma starts off with a roasty chocolate malt with a decent scent of vanilla, light woody notes and a fairly decent roasty coffee bean. The cranberry which the side of the bottle says is there is quite subdued to me. In fact, I even get some light cherry coming through, I’m not sure why as it seems unintentional by the brewer, but okay, no worries, I’m diggin’ it.
The taste is a sticky sweet combination of all of the previously mentioned flavors and adding a light anise just like last year’s.
On the palate, this one sits right at a medium in body with a more of a sipper quality to it. The alcohol does hide itself which is what I like but am wondering what this will be like this time next year.
Overall, well, if anything, I do like this beer but am only wondering how it will age. Well, I’ll find out in June of 2015.