Bottle. Dark copper colour. Hoppy aroma. Dusty, malty flavour and aftertaste. A little peppery. The bitterness gets a little too much for me. 8 3 8 3 15 Bottle at ÅBF08. Sherry aroma. Sweetish malty flavour, hint of vanilla, cigarbox. Hazy amber colour. 6 3 6 3 16

Hazy amber beer; faintly amberish head, quite stable. Vanilla, and a bit of ice cream with sweet chocolate, whiff of caramely hops (do those exist?) There’s a hop flavour struggling to get out, but the caramely, toffee (with a dash of brandy) taste gets the better of it. Hop venges itself by shaping a bitterish finish, nearly metallic. Fruity character, oranges, figs, and "bitter melons" (but very, very little of those). A bit sharp MF, well bodied; certain slickness, appropriate to an old ale. Another good one from this NZL brewery. However, making a great old ale is a lot easier than making a great Pilsener. Easy on the hops, boys, not all has to taste like IPA.

(Bottle conditioned, 500 ml). Pours with an enormous fluffy lingering head. Cloudy brown colour. Aroma is alcohol, red fruits, leather, caramel and sherry. Flavour is malty with English fruitcake and Christmas pudding elements, but a substantial hoppy bitterness (nearly too much?) takes over and dominates through the long finish. Some alcoholic warmth. Good strong ale, but somehow the hop varieties used seem not to be perfectly balanced with the initial comforting sweetness. Thanks, JensenTaster - at least I liked this beer better than you did!

Bronze; chewy, almost nutty malt aroma; earthy, toffeeish malts; long finish. Cheers to Kaya for letting us have a crack at this one.