Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Pretty hazy copper and bronze coloured body with a very thin, fast-dying tan head that shows some bigger bubbles and leaves just about nothing on top. Aroma of brown sugar, toffee, earthy malts, light molasses, a dash of prunes and plums and finishing with some more sweetness of pure dates - very nice on the nose with no alcohol noticeable, really. Medium-bodied; Strong rich earthy malts come out at first with a tiny bit of a peaty note and some light tobacco flavours, but the real strength here is the caramelised sugars and toffee which shine here in a great way and still roll off very easily, especially for the style, this goes down very easily. Aftertaste shows some nice sweetness throughout, mostly from the toffee and caramel, but some from the dates and prunes here with some figs coming through at the end and leaving off a nice pungency, while not really showing the alcohol at all. Overall, this has aged tremendously well with any pungent flavours completely gone and some good sweetness, a great malt backbone and some very soft alcohol and rich finish with tobacco and a bit of smoked/ burnt notes that work out well with the fruits and especially the pitted fruits and caramel. Great to sample, especially after five years in the bottle and at this [the best] time of year! I sampled this sixty five cL bottle, purchased from K-1 Beer and Wine in Arlington, Virginia on 19-December-2017 for US$8,99 sampled a few blocks down the road at my house here in Washington, exactly five years later on 19-December (and again on 04 January 2023) 2022.

Dark amb med foam tan head. Spicy earthy arma. Spicy earthy citrus flav. Med bod mod carb. 7/3/7/3/14 3.4

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bomber from Beer Run, 6/22/16. Murky amber, large foamy white head. Good retention. Aroma of citrus, toffee, vanilla and apple skins. The taste is caramel, toffee, citrus, vanilla. Medium bodied, mild heat, low carbonation.

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Grapefruit, rye, pencil shavings aroma. Cloudy ochre, medium yellow head. Grapefruit, triple sec. Subtle oak notes underneath. Medium to full body, moderate carbonation. Definitely a fruitier variety of barleywine. Alcohol fairly well masked making it seem like this a mere DIPA.