Bottle at ChrisO Snow Tasting, thanks to Colin. It pours deep brown with a small, light tan head. The nose is pumpkin, squash, vanilla, earth, orange peel and wood. The taste is caramel, pumpkin, squash, honey, wood, spice, sweet tangerine and metal, with a dry finish. Medium body and moderate carbonation. Not a great depth of flavour and fairly unbalanced. So-so.

Bottle at Chriso’s snow tasting 20/01/2012. Hazy caramel brown colour and beige head. Aroma is spruce, nutty with a little alcohol. Nicely balanced and interesting spruce / piny character. Chalky carbonation /water profile. touch of roast in there as well.

It poured a brownish gold and maintained a good haziness in the body. There was a lot of carbonation and it took a good three minutes before the head dissipated. Bubbles formed around the head on the sides before the head dissipated. Once it settled a small mushroom cap of a head centered in the beer. The smell was the pine and the hops with some spices in the background. The taste was the hops with the spices in the background. Some bready malts came out in the taste along with a slightly sweet aftertaste. The palate was a light to medium and mainly drinkable, decently balanced. Overall, pretty good for the style, I’d have it again.

Bottle at Chriso Snow Tasting, from an IP trade with Kurt, 20/01/13. Hazed dark brown with a thin tan head that soon dissipates. Nose is dark fruits, drak malts, spice. Taste comprises dark malts, background chocolate, touch of wood (spruce I guess), fruit, light soap. Medium bodied with some bitterness in the finish. Ok - drinkable stuff but lacks depth and ultimately fails to deliver for an 8% beer!

0.65l bottle from my secret Santa 2012. This is a deep dark plum-brown one with a nice big but quickly fading brown-ish top. On the nose I get some sweet licorice tones, some Christmas spices, slightly ginger tones, pastilles and some soft leather/vanilla confetti chocolate. Smells quite nice this! It's average+ on the carbonation and the mouthfeel is soft oily to almost watery. Well, perhaps not watery, but at least a bit lighter than I would imagine. Immediately I notice a really present bitterness. Forest-like bitterness with spruce, branches and some herbal heather. Snickers chocolate with some soapy hints. It has a good amount of flavor this, and it's quite tasty. Exciting to try, and actually quite a pleasant one. 26.12.2012

Bottle at Chriso Snow Tasting. Rubber on aroma. better in mouth. Ok ish. some choc sponge

It pours out of the bottle a brown/red color with a purple hazy bottom. There wasn’t any head even after several aggressive pours. The lacing is very light and spotty. Some sediment at the bottom appears. The smell has some dark fruits, malts and a light roasted chocolate. The taste has the hops come out pretty strong with some nice malts coming in to play. The palate is medium with a subdued carbonation on the tongue and mouth, moderately drinkable. Overall, I liked this for me, and its good for style as well.

I believe this was a bottle from 2010. Aroma has lots of malt character. Some caramel, toffee and raisin. A hint of oxidation showing with some honey an a touch of wet cardboard. The hop character is quite subdued with just a hint of a dank, woody hop note. A hint of a chocolate character as well. Light alcohol note. Pours a rather cloudy brown with some amber highlights. Thin, slightly off white head that recedes to a thin layer. Slight lacing and moderate legs. Flavor starts with sweet caramel and toffee with a hint of a cracker note. A light roast and burnt toast flavor present as well. Some sweet fruitiness - raisin and plum. Medium spicy alcohol flavor in the finish. Moderately strong bitterness, but quite balanced with the alcohol and malt. A touch of hop astringency. Light woodsy hop flavor. Mouthfeel is medium full bodied with medium carbonation. It's a bit thin and watery though. Alcohol warmth is moderate. Astringency is low but present. Overall this is a good barleywine but nothing amazing. It has a $5.99 price tag on it and for that price this bomber is a steal; I imagine it costs more now. The hop character has mostly faded away but there was still a bit to the beer. The oxidation is starting to show, but in a decent way - more honey than wet paper. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

12oz bottle-tight offwhite-hazy gold. A-citrus/pine (soapy), 2nd lt/med malt. T-pine hops with a weird bite, 2nd lt/med malt-caramel.

Thanks to Bruce for the opportunity to try this one. Pours a solid dark brown/black color with a smallish off white head that quickly dissipates to a cap. Smells of roast caramel and ash with a spicy earthy menthol aroma that I assume is spruce. This beer smells a bit oxidized or maybe that’s a mix of spruce and pumpkin. The flavor is a bit spicy and roasty. Herbal spicy menthol hits up front followed by a roasty caramel and toffee. This finishes with a long lingering bitterness that seems more intense than just hops. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a roasty bitter mouthfeel. This one is certainly out of the box, but it really didn’t work all that well for me. The pumpkin is almost non existent and the spruce adds a harsh bitterness that I really couldn’t get into.