large bottle. pitch dark, smooth brown head. (rated without looking up what kind of lagering) fainter sweet notes, could be bourbon, could be liquer of some sort. wood, cocoa, vanilla, really nice and smooth aroma. Flavor is chili and wood bitter , tons of roasted malts, lots of woody balance, under the roasted bitterness some salty licorice notes, then fainter sweet liquer notes and fainter sweet notes. Perhaps the aging helped this one, it comes off real smooth and balanced yet very powerful. (reading up on the barrel) ah, i see, islay, i love islay, could explain what i described as chilies.. it is not that smoked, but now i know, some of the wood and salt notes could be a bit smoked too. One of the really great islay cask experiments, i guess the black albert was potent enough to do well 5yrs in an islay cask strength. Great job. Very unfortunate only 1999 bottles out there besides mine.

Bottle, 750 ml, courtesy of kajser27. Shared with him and others. Black with brownish head. Nice medium peat aroma. Chocolate, roasted malts, peat, whisky, smooth. Sweet. Bitter finish. Warming. Soft carbonation. Full bodied.

Pitch black colored, thick, medium tan creamy head. Aroma is of roasted malt and dark chocolate, peat and some whisky barrel notes, some brown sugar, alcohol. Taste is medium to very sweet, roasted malt and dark chocolate with brown sugar, bit dark fruits, plenty of peat, whisky barrel, some alcohol and warmth in the finish. Full bodied, soft carbonation, creamy and thick. (bottle from the brewery)

Another in this second generation of Black Damnations, this time aged on barrels which previously harboured Octomore, a heavily peated whisky brand owned by Bruichladdich. Medium thick, regularly shaped, creamy, pale yellowish beige head, fairly stable around the edge but quickly dissolving in the middle; pitch black colour, mahogany hue only visible for about one millimeter off the edge. Strong, potent aroma of walnut oil, chocolate liqueur and molten black bitter chocolate, iodine- and even bromium-like peat, whisky as such, vanilla beans, cinnamon, wet leather, wet wood, treacle, kahlua, stewed bayleaf, rum-soaked black raisins, beef broth, shoe polish, varnish, coffee, dates. Candied sweet onset, fig and raisin, sourish roasted barley underneath, light beef stock-like umami, vague soy sauce touch, soft carbo, very thick, oily and viscous mouthfeel. Very deep caramelly, very nutty and bitter chocolatey, eventually coffeeish roasted bitter maltiness, of the same profile as the other new BDs; drying tannic woodiness in the finish, vanilla-ish, hints of thyme and beef broth, some candied sweetness lingering and, of course, a lot of colourful, peppery, very whisky-like heating alcohol, pushing upwards retronasal peat with iodine-like character, though not too overpowering. You will have to like peated whisky-aged beers in order to appreciate this one, but the peated character, though very obvious, does not totally obliterate the basic character of Black Albert so I guess it is fair to say that this edition is relatively well balanced, though still very intense, actually feeling thicker and more viscous than the others I had in this series - but that is probably just my memory fooling me. In any case another great new generation BD, though probably not worth its price if you're not a Struise fanboy.

A total peat overdose.