Superstrong dark ale by this young microbrewery in West-Flanders, extensively aged on an Irish whiskey barrel. Steinie bottle straight from the brewery. Loose, pale beige, open 'head' fizzing away in instants like the foam on a glass of coke, hazy deep chestnut brown robe with ruddy-coppery glow. Strong aroma of very pronounced whisky (even including peat though not overwhelmingly so), caramel, raisins, brown bread, toffee, old wood, marmite, pecan nuts, dried figs, cane sugar on fried pear, vanilla (oak!), hints of clove, floor polish and fried oyster mushrooms. Dark-sugary sweet onset, fig, pear, raisins and a touch of fried apple with a very subtle mushroom-ish umami accent on top, paired with this continuously sourish undertone (blackberry); soft carb as expected, rounded vinous mouthfeel. Brown-bready, lightly hazelnutty, deeply caramelly malt core with a very light toasty edge (though hardly bittering) and mildly leafy hop bitterishness, increasingly soaked in heating, very boozy yet 'pure' whiskey, with a dash of peat thrown in for good measure as well as a whiff of vanillin-like oak wood - but also a lot of rather 'rough' alcohol and a somewhat 'dirty' earthiness (problably more from the beer itself). Seriously warms the throat; this is rough around the edges and in need of some finetuning - a bit less whiskey booziness could already help, and when I read that its congener General of Disarray is apparently even boozier, I hesitate to open that one... Reminds me strongly of Jopen's Verloren Zoon series which, though not lacking in complexity and certainly pleasing those who love a very strong, robust beer, had the same crudeness and was drowned in alcohol to the exact same extent. Interesting one, nonetheless, but in its basic structure more a Belgo-Dutch style quadrupel than a true barleywine in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the word.