6.8

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Not bad, but I feel like Ellipsis had no intentions of people letting this beer sit around. But there's still stores in CFL with lots of these bottles sitting there. They say drink fresh but this is the sort of beer one might age. My complaint here is that my bottle is a tad old, and its lost some carb. Its not totally flat, not oxidized, but its not as good as it could be I think. They could have at least waxed these crowns but they didn't. It was just a simple crown on this bottle. Poured inky black, no head. A few bubbles. Nose is roasted malt, chocolate, and a hint of bourbon. Flavor similar, is quite sweet but immediately balanced by the bitterness of the roasted malt. Unfortunately that the BA treatment is only hinted at (2 years, really?) It makes me wonder if there's even a noticeable difference between the different bourbons used (this one Weller, the others include Buffalo Trace, Smooth Ambler, etc). Fairly strong acrid roast and hop bitterness at finish provides the appropriate counterpoint to the big heavy residual sugars in this whopper. On the whole its surprisingly drinkable for its scale, a pretty well constructed recipe. Just lost some life and as noted the BA treatment contributes not much.