From 75cl bottle at FOB, Rimini, Italy. Pours black with dark cappuccino foam, low. Aroma is a wonderful mix of red wine tannic and typical stout aroma. Body is dense and sticky in the mouth, also a bit of astringency. Taste is sweet, with low bitterness and some acidity. Finish is long.

750 ml bottle into snifter; 2017 vintage bottling, listed at 11%. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big lightly tart cherries, raisin, plum, fig, date, berry, currant, red wine, toasted oak, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toffee, and dark bread; with light notes of pepper, coffee, smoke, vanilla, leathery/musty funk, red wine vinegar, and yeast/oak/roasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, fruity/funky yeast, and wine barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big lightly tart cherries, raisin, plum, fig, date, berry, currant, red wine, toasted oak, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toffee, and dark bread; with light notes of pepper, coffee, smoke, vanilla, leathery/musty funk, red wine vinegar, and yeast/oak/roasted earthiness. Light-moderate roast/char bitterness and light yeast/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of lightly tart cherries, berries, dark fruit, red wine, toasted oak, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, molasses, toffee, dark bread, light leathery funk/vinegar, and yeast/oak/roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, fruity/funky yeast, and wine barrel flavors; with an awesome roasted bitter/sweet and yeast/oak spiciness balance; with zero acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Light dryness from roast bitterness and yeast/oak spiciness, lightly increasing through the glass. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is great. Very minimal warming alcohol for 11%. Overall this is an awesome wine barrel aged Belgian imperial stout! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, fruity/funky yeast, and wine barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV. Pretty much perfectly balanced between all flavors. Very similar to most sour stouts I’ve had in the past; but far less acidic/funky, with more malt and barrel presence. Impressive Brett complexity for the young age. A really enjoyable offering.

2013 bottle shared by Karol, many thanks! Very dark colour, quite stable head, gushed a little bit but no big deal. Aroma really really fruity, fresh, berries, cherry, sour cherry. Almost like a wine, only more intense and better. Taste betrays slight brett, light to moderate. That probably created the gush. However the higher carbonation helps cover the alcohol well and also has a smooth quality. Lots of rich maltiness as well, roasted, caramel, chocolate. Lots of fruits, berries, currant, vinous. Incredibly complex. Balanced even in basic tastes - sweetness, bitterness, light tartness. Dangerously easily drinkable. Right at the top. On par with my 4.7s, but considering there is still a 0.1 space to go before 5, this gets a well deserved 4.8. Man this is good. Not sure if the brett was an original component at the time of bottling, but it did not get out of hand here. Probably a good thing it got drunk now.