Draught @ Port Brewing, San Marcos. Pours a clear golden color with a small white head. Malty grainy aroma. Sweet malty grainy and slightly grassy flavor, with some fruity hints. Malty finish with some bitterness in the aftertaste.

Draught @ Pizza Port, San Clemente. Pours a hazy amber color with a small white head. Malty hoppy grapefruit aroma. Sweet malty hoppy flavor with hints of grapefruit and pine needles. Dry hoppy bitter finish.

Cloudy orange pour, with a fizzy white head - huge, earthy amarillo and simcoe aroma - starts dry and extremely bitter, but this quickly makes way for an almost "british" bready malt sweetness - citrus fruits abound (naturally) - there is an almost musty, earthy quality throughout that makes things interesting - a solid, and somewhat original IPA.

Draught at EBF 2/10/07
Oily, dark chocolate brownish-black colored body is fairly viscous and yields a dark tan head that rather quickly disperses, leaving some film but no real lace behind. Clarity is medium-low to low.
The aroma comes on slowly, not as I expected. It dosent just blow you away with bourbon and malt right out of the gate, but gives a very dry, cocoa powder and char note at the start which gains light vanilla-cream sweetness, very crusty/crunchy roast notes and eventually draws from a large portion of bourbon and moderate oak character. Oily, vinous, very dark and thick, it is only brightened by the spicy, dry alcohol and bourbon notes, with a touch of oily oak fruitiness. Mostly a ton of rich dark chocolate and crunchy roast that sits heavily on the nose. Medium-high to high strength of aroma with thick, but soft alcohol vapors being released with warming.
Dark chocolate immediately starts things out dry, but sweet creamy, milk-chocolatey malts surge forth, and with some dry barrel notes mixing in to add a salty toffee flavor, it quickly becomes powerful. Bourbon is very strong on the finish, with oaky vinousness and lots of semi-sweet vanilla. Char lingers on in the aftertaste, as well as alcohol and dark fruits. Texture is almost creamy, but the slick black malts and barrel aging produce some oiliness and dry-tannic feel to the texture as well. Medium-full body, quite sweet, though not overbearingly so. What I did find disappointing was a crusty, almost stale breadiness that had notes of old coffee grinds, cardboard and slight butteriness. It hits about half way through and does yield to the bourbon, eventually, but does seem very dull/stale. I think goldtwins sees it as well with his descriptor of "aged malts", though he notes it in the aroma.

Draught at EBF, second day, on 2/10/07, served by Vince
Soft, lightly hazy peach-nectarine colored beer, with light golden-straw highlights and a surprisingly dense, white head that is mostly well-retained, and laces lightly. Lots of medium-sized bubbles in the liquid.
Very tart aroma definitely makes use of the barrel, where I found the non-barrel version to have a bit too much sweetness and sluggish maltiness. The barrel adds a firmness and light, grainy tannic note that seems acidic, but also juicy and really seems balanced to the sweet malts. Dry grass and herbal notes make you think there are herbs added to the beer while strong lemon and dry orange notes also create dryness. A bit of doughiness and lots of acidity on the end, but a very interesting "biere de garde" overall. Though I dont think you’d call this one a BdG anymore. The barrel adds way too much fruitiness and tartness, with tons of acidity.
Same acidic flavor seems to have a want of a little more malt depth, while lots of biscuity/grainy notes are exposed by the heavily dry fruitiness and tannic acids. Lots of barrel here, with vanilla, chamomile, lavendar and hibiscus notes lingering. Not sure where all the herbal notes are coming from, but with the fruitiness, acids and puckering tartness, it remains quite bright, but just too much for me. Highly carbonated mouthfeel and a very aerated/fluffy texture, thusly. Light alcohol vapors, in the aroma, by the end of the glass.
As an experimental beer, it’s very unique and pretty well-done, but don’t look at it as a BdG.