Golden pour with a frothy white head, sticky lacing - floral, spicy aroma, with hints of pine - not as hoppy as I expected from this area of the country, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing - besides, it’s still pretty hoppy, with a decent amount of bready maltiness to balance it out (though just slightly not quite enough of it) - finish of "spicy bread," if that makes any sense - pretty good for the style, but not one to go out of your way for.

2003 bottle sampled July 2004. Pours a sparklingly bright golden yellow with deep orange tinges and a lovely off-white foamy head. Aroma of candi sugar, light nectarines, yeast and a mild spice. Flavor is magnificent. Upon first sip I fell in love with this one. Just the most smooth, remarkably soft and luxurious palate. Not challenging with spice, no acid/alcohol burn or overcarbonation to get around. Wow. The flavor has soft yellow fruit notes, a very present and bold belgian yeast with a moderately sweet malt on the finish. As it warmed and breathed, every sip got better; more fruit, a softer palate and more delectable flavors to pick out (light cinnamon, hints of vanilla and orange). The hops never get in the way and arent very apparent, but keep the malt sweetness in check without you even realizing it. Superb and one of the best beers I’ve tried lately. Give me a bit more going on in the aroma (which suffers from the beer’s easygoing, soft subtle nature), some bottle conditioning and maybe a touch more yeasty funkiness and this would be near or perfect. 8/4/9/4/18
2005 bottle consumed 12/17/06.
Head is still quite full and frothy, slightly off-white. Fades to cover, but retained there, with some small, patchy lacing left behind. Clear, filtered.
Apples are the first thing I smell in the nose. Not green apple, but a sourish sort of cider apple. Perhaps just old hop notes? It doesnt seem to come out of the beer either throuh breathing. Candi sugar, some yellow fruit esters and a bit of alcohol.
The flavor takes some getting used to. There is definitely a lot of candi sugar felt, with alcohol present as well. The filtered body is not overly thin or watery and the carbonation fairly good for being forced. Pretty simple, with some hop flavor and lots of phenols on the end. Score is for this bottle.

Hazy light yellow colour. Phenolic, slightly spicy (coriander) aroma with hints of fresh mandarin oranges (not that canned crap). Light body. Spritzy, with lots of orange flavour. Slightly tart, with hints of spice.

Fairly clear deep copper-red body, medium off-white head. Cerealy aroma with hints of caramel and piney hops. Grainy body is on the dry side, and piney, bitter hops are especially prevalent in the finish. The balance is mostly in the favor of the Cascades. Medium-bodied and decent.

bottle at brewtopia - I was expecting great things from this beer, but was a bit disappointed - quite barleywineish, in fact, I don’t detect a lot of belgian characteristics at all - lots of sugar ( a bit cloying actually) - tries hard at being balanced, but doesn’t quite make it - tasty to a point.

Lightlly hazy reddish amber with off-white head. Sweet lemon and raisins aroma, with pinous resinour overtones. Hops come out as beer warm up. Very hoppy and resinous tatse, with lots of malt sweetness in the end. The hops become more complex as the beer warms up. A cross between an IPA and a BW. Good stuff. Thanks to the Cap!

2004 bottle. Dark black/brown color, not highly filtered, translucent it seems. Good charcoal/brown head. Aroma of bitter hops, lots of oily roasted barley and plenty of coffee notes. Flavor is dry, nutty (walnuts, hazlenuts) with a lot of roasted barley. So much so that it takes on a very oily texture. The hops are juicy and bold and add an almost sweetness to this beer. Coffee and hops on the finish, extra dry, medium body, not as watery as many dry stouts. Still, I just dont like the flavor overall, too dry.7/4/6/3/13
Rerate, late 2004 bottleToo much bitterness, moreso than I remember, and moreso than it needs. Dry hazelnut roast coffee, forced carbonation and not enough sweet malt character. Even though it’s a dry stout, a little sweetness is needed to offset the highly bitter, slightly metallic notes in this. Decent body, which it would showcase better if it werent for all of the prickly carbonation. 6/3/5/2/11

Bottle at Brewtopia ’04 American style Barleywine. Deep amber with little head. Malty aroma with detectable presence of higher alcohols. The hop bitterness overpowers the maltiness in the flavor. Somewhat out of balance. This probably would be good to lay aside and re-rate after some aging. Re-rate 12/21/13 Much smoother and the hops were in balance this time to suit my tastes.. The several years in the cellar proved to be good for this one in every way.