Hazy golden colour with orange highlights and a frothy off-white head. Almost no bubbling action within the beer! Smells of grapes, malt and a bit of hops are very evident. Medium to Full-Bodied; Grapey taste with strong malt highlights and a nice hop background. The grape taste is still evident in the palate and leads way to a bit of metallic twang and some malt-bitterness. I am starting to really like this style...and this is a pretty good example of it. I don't know how it got such a low ranking! Overall, there is very little wrong with this beer...and quite amount of things right! If you are in the area, try finding this one and give it a shot...I'd like to see its score raised! I bought my twelve ounce bottle at Total Wine in McLean, Virginia.

Beautiful nut-brown/amber colour, nice head. A very strong and full-bodied beer with lots of hops, but I think it will improve with age.

A good red colour to the beer, and a pretty decent smell. The taste was pretty average, not too strong nor weak, not too hoppy nor malty. Just an average 'red' ale, but worth trying if you can find it. I had this on tap at the Ramada Inn (BWI Location).

This Same Bottle - Re-Rated, almost 10 YEARS later! 2004-2005 Batch - Brewdate: 11-Feb-2005: Same look with almost no head at all - still with no pressure when opened. Aroma of very sweet pit fruit, some light alcohol and a bit of oak - nice and mellow. Full-bodied; Rich malt notes dominate with a ton of pit fruits and a very, VERY mellow alcohol note - this one hits the palate very nicely, almost like you aren’t drinking a barley wine at all. Overall, this has aged dramatically - very subdued and only showing touches of the oak and alcohol with more notes of sugars than anything else, but this is nice. The bottle shows the fill line just from residue, but after 10 years with no movement, this makes sense. A GREAT beer, and sadly, my last of this vintage and some of my last ever from this once great brewery. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle on New Year’s Eve 2015. Rating for this sample: 9,3,9,4,16 2004-2005 Batch - Brewdate: 11-Feb-05
Clear strong ruby tinted amber/copper coloured body with a medium-sized off-white head. Looks nice - about right for a fresh barley wine. Aroma is VERY nice, malt, caster sugar, sweet caramel, cherries, pit fruits, coriander seed, curacao, peanuts and even some anise. Full-bodied; Strong alcohol kick (tastes like sherry) with a good malt presence, a nice hop bitterness followed with plenty of alcohol & some pit fruits. Aftertaste still burns from the alcohol, yet still shows some spiceyness and some sweet burnt sugar flavours. Overall, a bit too harsh just right now, but given a year or more and this one will mellow out VERY nicely. I sampled this just 18 days after brewing, so give it another few hundred and i’ll try another bottle. I sampled this from a six pack purchased at Total Wine in McLean, Virginia on 01-March-2005. Rating for this vintage: 9,4,8,2,15 2009-2010 Batch - Brewdate: 02-Feb-10
Slightly hazy, muddy amber coloured body with a very thin tan head that fades very fast. Aroma of pit fruits, alcohol, oak and some grapes. Resiny flavour with a lot of alcohol and potent pit fruits noticeable with a good dose of hops and wine on the back end. Aftertaste very potent and showing too much alcohol and sharp flavours - even at one year. Overall, a decent barley wine, but nothing like what it used to be - sad, but the whole Dominion story is. I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased from Total Wine in McLean, Virginia on 15-April-2010 sampled at home in Washington on 15-May-2011. Score for this rating: 7,3,7,2,13 2004-2005 Batch - Brewdate: 11-Feb-05
Clear strong ruby tinted amber/copper coloured body with a medium-sized off-white head. Looks nice - about right for a fresh barley wine. Aroma is VERY nice, malt, caster sugar, sweet caramel, cherries, pit fruits, coriander seed, curacao, peanuts and even some anise. Full-bodied; Strong alcohol kick (tastes like sherry) with a good malt presence, a nice hop bitterness followed with plenty of alcohol & some pit fruits. Aftertaste still burns from the alcohol, yet still shows some spiceyness and some sweet burnt sugar flavours. Overall, a bit too harsh just right now, but given a year or more and this one will mellow out VERY nicely. I sampled this just 18 days after brewing, so give it another few hundred and i’ll try another bottle. I sampled this from a six pack purchased at Total Wine in McLean, Virginia on 01-March-2005. Rating for this vintage: 9,4,8,2,15

Golden red in colour, very mild in taste...an average tasting beer, nothing special, nothing wrong though!

Red in colour, strong ale smell...nice ale taste, followed by a wheaty aftertaste. A great all-around beer!

Nice semi-transparent stout! Very mild taste. No sign of flavour, but no body. Some coffee taste in the aftertaste though!

This is a re-rating from a beer I had on Tap at Hero's in Manassas, Virginia. I bought this in a bottle from Whole Foods in Vienna, Virginia. The colour is a little odd, darker amber and a nice white head which leaves decent lacing behing on the glasss. The aroma is almost purely hops, but that is a very good thing! The taste is pretty balanced, although a bit vinegary--even from the bottle. Good hoppyness balanced with adequate maltiness combined with decent sweetness. A pretty good pale ale, the first time I had it, it wasn't good at all...but this time in the bottle, I'm pleasantly impressed. One to pick up if you are in Washington or Virginia!