From old tasting notes. Blackish brown, nearly opaque with a quickly disappating tan head. Aroma is slightly dry and vinous in nature. Semisweet roasted malt flavor upfront. Bitter hops in middle. Smooth dry finish has good hop character. Aftertaste is dry and somewhat bitter, yet long and interesting. Very lightly carbonated. Fairly well balanced and full bodied. Subtle and unique.

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 10/31/2016. Pours hazy dark purple color with a 1 finger foamy pink head with solid retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of lightly tart concord grapes, fruit skin, wheat, cracker, light herbal, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance of grape juice, pale malt, and light earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of lightly tart concord grapes, fruit skin, wheat, cracker, light herbal, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal bitterness and tangy fruit tartness on the finish. Lingering notes of concord grapes, fruit skin, wheat, cracker, light herbal, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice robustness and balance of grape juice, pale malt, and light earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitter/tartness balance, and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Slight dryness from bitter/tartness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately bready/grainy, and lightly acidic/tannic/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.9%. Overall this is a nice fruit beer. All around good robustness and balance of grape juice, pale malt, and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth and refreshing to drink. Pretty simple, but well made. Balanced fruit and wheat beer, with just enough hops to balance the sweetness. A very unique, but nicely enjoyable offering.

Well this is quite nice (and the RB categorization as a mead is about as far off-base as can be). Without the braggot label, I’d believe it if you said it was an Old Ale. Nose is first fruity: figgy, alefruit, persimmon, a hint of acetone (perhaps the honey part coming through). Flavor not overly sweet (assuming its unhopped), it is more dark pitted fruit, a hint of honey, some tobacco or herbal notes. Semi-sweet finish, not sure how they managed to balance it out, but it worked. Braggot in name, Old Ale or maybe barleywine in character. A little dull in the glass, brownish, low carbonation, virtually no head. edit: after submitting I noticed some early ratings had this marked fairly low. I’m assuming there was just one release from 2014 - hence I suspect there is an aging effect happening on this one. While I had the hint of acetone in the nose at first pour, early ratings are noting the stronger boozy rocket fuel elements. I think 3 years has possibly done this a huge favor. My feeling is it could stand up to at least another 3 years. Look for it.

12 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 2/7/2014. Pours slightly hazy deep orange/amber/light copper color with a 1 finger dense cream colored head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around that glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big honey, caramel, brown sugar, lemon, orange, golden raisin, apricot, wood, pepper, clove, lightly toasted bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of honey, bready malt, fruity yeast, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop notes; with great strength. A bit of booze in the aromas as it warms. Flavors of big honey, caramel, brown sugar, lemon, orange, golden raisin, apricot, wood, pepper, clove, lightly toasted bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light pine/herbal/spicy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of honey, caramel, brown sugar, lemon, orange, golden raisin, apricot, wood, pepper, clove, lightly toasted bread, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of honey, bready malt, fruity yeast, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and minimal lingering hop astringency after the finish. Light dryness from lingering bitterness, lightly increasing through the glass. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/slick, and lightly sticky/syrupy/resinous balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden; a mild warmth lingering after the finish, with minimal booziness. Overall this is a very nice Braggot. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of honey, bready malt, fruity yeast, and light-moderate citrus/pine hop flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on for the big ABV. Seems to be a fairly simple approach on the style. Not much malt complexity; but very well balanced with honey, hops, and yeast notes. Like a cross between blonde barleywine and mead. A very enjoyable offering, and great style example.

bottle from Total Wine, West Richmond. Golden, small white head. Aroma is orange, mostly candied orange. Taste is orange juice, orange candy, lightly floral.

Bottle from Total Wine, West Richmond. Pours slightly hazy pale golden with a giant soft white head. Holy peach aroma - both bitter and juicy. Flavor itself is very much peach, quite sweet with sugar added. Almost as if I opened a can of peaches and dumped the juice into my beer. Where I kinda like it, and the carbonation is quite lively, I’d probably not seek it out again.