Vintage 2000. Pours dark chestnut brown with a thin light tan head. Interesting and unusual aroma of soy, tangy dark fruit, cinnamon and licorice. The unusual aroma carries over to the flavor. The body is very soylike and salty/smokey with dark fruit (plum) and licorice, woody flavors and a healthy dose of alcohol. Can't say this reminds me of any other Imperial Stout; this beer is in a category of its own. Reminds me a bit of the Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Special Reserve I recently tried, with a similar oily body and relatively dry but sour malt.

Amber color. Simple but nice hop aroma. Quite hoppy flavor, good, without being too bitter; enough malt and caramel; touch of liquorice. Delicate, quite good, well brewed.

2009-10-27, vintage 2001, 8 years old, 7-3-6-2-13=31
Black color; sparse bubbles in place of any head. The aroma is initially woody and lightly sour, possibly corky; then some roasted malt and chocolate come to the surface; it may be interesting in some cases. As the pour anticipated, there is no carbonation; the mouthfeel is bold and very oily, now too much alcoholic too; strong chocolate flavor, some roasted malt and liquorice; salty and a bit corky. In the end there is warming alcohol and bitterness from the roasted malts; also some tannins.
Excessive, it didn’t age very well. Mostly, the combination of salt, alcohol and cork. Therefore, it’s not exactely pleasant.

2004-01-28, vintage 2001, 3 years old, 9-4-7-4-15=39
Totally black!; brown head. Strong chocolate nose; liquorice; roasted malt. Flows smoothly on the tongue at the beginning, leaving a strong liquorice impression. Burnt bitterness at the end (again, chocolate and liquorice), maybe short. I expected more… Thanks Jens (Ungstrup) for sharing this bottle.

This doesn't seem much like a pale ale at all, but more like and english strong ale, considering the low hop presence, moderate malt sweetness, and distinct roasty characteristics - low carbonation, mild yeastiness, cloudy appearance, and somewhat creamy mouthfeel combine to make this feel almost like a cask-ale experience - damp and musty - brown sugar and molassas - sweet malts make way for bitterness and some bready, biscuity flavors - it took my palate a while to adjust to this one, but once it did I thought it was decent.

Bottle. Very dark, somewhat syrupy beer with almost no head. Roasty aroma, with a little hop and chocolate thrown in. lighter body than expected. Huge roasty tastes with licorice, chocolate, and raisin flavors. alcoholic warming.

Cask. Creamy head. Citrusy fruit flavour. Nicely bitter with a good roughness. Quite flavourful. 8 3 8 3 18

Cask, 4.5%. Weak fruity aroma. Slightly sweet flavour, nutty and slightly spiced with cookie spices. 7 3 7 3 16