12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 1/2016. Pours slightly hazy deep reddish brown color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/chocolate, plum, pear, apple, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/roast malt and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/chocolate, plum, pear, apple, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/spicy/roast bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/chocolate, and herbal/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/roast malt and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy/bready, and slightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is a nice English brown ale style. All around good robustness, complexity, and balance of dark/bready/roast malt and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. A nicely enjoyable offering.

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 9/2015. Pours lightly hazy very dark brown color with a 1-2 finger dense khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, light dark fruit, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Okay aromas with solid balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop notes; with very poor strength. Taste of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, light dark fruit, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Light herbal/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, brown bread, and herbal/toasted earthiness on the finish for a short bit. Good balance, robustness, and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop flavors; with a good malt/bitterness balanced and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy/bready, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming present after the finish. Overall this is was a pretty solid English porter style. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and light earthy hop flavors; and very smooth and easy to drink. The aromas were nearly non existent, but the flavors were well done and pleasantly enjoyable.

Bottle. A- Sweet bread, caramel, stone fruits, sweat, gourds. A- Orange color, hazy liquid, white head. T- Sweet bread, caramel, malty, rotten apricots. P- Light body, average texture, average carbonation, sweet malty finish. O- Not what I am used to for the style but not bad. It’s got a weird aroma and finish that reminds me of overripe stone fruit. Not bad not great. Glad I tried it, but don’t want it again.

Bottle courtesy of HuskerTan, thanks! Cloudy deep golden amber color, off white head. Aroma of black pepper and biscuit Taste has raw biscuit dough and lots of pepper. Weird.

From a bottle at the RB DC tasting September 6.it is a cloudy gold color with a slight head. The aroma is like a saison and the taste is a strong bitter flavor that has a spicy sweetness hmmmm

From a bottle at the RB DC tasting September 6. Pours a hazy gold with an off white head. Spicy nose. Flavors of grass with some sweetness.

Some citrus and some papery aroma. Seems a little contaminated. Light sour finish. Pours orange with OK head. Bottle thanks to Travlr.

Bottle courtesy of HuskerTan, thank you sir! Hazy golden yellow color, white head. Earthy biscuit aroma. Taste is sweet vanilla and cream. Easy drinking and refreshing.

Bottle. A- Funky, barnyard, white wine. A- Golden orange color, hazy liquid, white head. T- Slightly tart, funky, barnyard, white wine, grapes, earthy. P- Medium body, average texture, medium carbonation, funky finish. O- At first I thought the aging was going to ruin this thinking bourbon but then seeing it was in wine barrels my hopes slightly rose. This, while not my favorite style, turns out to be quite good. I would bet if you put this in a Prairie Artisan bottle it would sell sell sell, but otherwise, people would be surprised to find this is from Empyrean, whom normally I’m not real fond of. Anyways, this was not too bad at all. Funky and alright.

More Brett. ..light sourness.