Brown bottle, 1 pint 9.4 ounces, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savoured on October 28 2007; eye: dark brown with burgundy reflections, nice creamy coffee head that remains throughout the sip, opaque, some lacing; nose: black licorice, whisky, woody, small berries, vanilla, caramel, candied fruits, smoke, scotch; mouth: liqueur-like, enjoyable alcohol carpet that remains throughout the sip, pepper from the alcohol, wood, caramelized malt, good presence of licorice, candied fruits, light vanilla, Amaretto similarities, peat, scotch, smoke, long finale in a nice balance of caramelized malt, whisky and wood with a hint of hops, full body, mildly bitter and sweet, creamy and velvety texture, superb balance of the various savours, average carbonation; overall: exceptional FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 1 pinte 9,4 onces, via Importations Privées Bièropholie, savourée le 28 octobre 2007; œil : brune foncée avec des reflets bourgogne, belle mousse crémeuse café qui se maintient tout au long de la gorge, opaque, légère dentelle; nez : réglisse noire, whisky, boisé, petits fruits, vanille, caramel, petits fruits confits, fumée, scotch; bouche : liquoreuse, agréable petit tapis d’alcool tout au long de la gorgée, poivre de l’alcool, boisé, malt caramélisé, bonne présence de réglisse, petits fruits confits, légère vanille, petit côté Amaretto, tourbe, fruits confits, scotch, fumée, finale en un bon mélange de malt caramélisé, whisky et boisé avec une petite pointe de houblon et une petite pointe d’amertume, corsée, moyennement amère et sucrée, texture crémeuse et veloutée, superbe balance de toutes les saveurs, carbonatation moyenne; en résumé : exceptionnelle

Same beer as the Aug. 25th 2007 Barrel Tasting event except this time it has been in a bottle for a while. Pours hazy brown copper with thin tan head. It has a big fruity complex aroma with a layer of tartness, cherries, cherries and more cherries. I also get barrel wood notes and it is smelling rich and inviting. As big a flavor as the nose led onto, wow. Lots of cherries that quickly become tart and leaning up against a wood barrel (yes, a cherry leaning on a barrel, that’s what it tastes like. How can my taste buds be wrong?). This is bold in flavor with the tartness building and building into the finish. Nice refreshing brew bringing up sweet fruity cherries turning tart and then there’s an undercurrent of a wood note that sneaks in every so often. Ends with lingering cherry fruitiness and tartness. It seems much more tart than when I tasted straight from the barrel last year at the Barrel Tasting event.

Tasted at Lost Abbey’s 1st Annual Barrel Tasting (Aug. 25, 2007) pours like a port wine or coffee with a reddish tint. The aroma is big consisting of oak, green grapes, raisins, dates, a little bit of hay and new freshly wetted burlap. The flavor stacked up much the same way as the aroma. The fruitiness is rich, somewhat sweet and inviting with green grapes, plums, dates, raisins and hints of fresh boysenberries. Well, sort of boysenberry-ish. The fruit notes were melded nicely together making them tough to discern yet they were also punchy in their evenness. To round out the flavor mellow notes of oak and vanilla mix effortlessly with the fruit.