12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 8/2016. Pours lightly hazy deep orange/copper color with a 2-3 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice dense cap that lasts. Dense foamy lacing clings around the glass, with a large amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of big grapefruit, tangerine, lemon zest, pineapple, orange peel, pine, citrus rind, floral, grass, light caramel, bread, and floral/grassy earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of bright citrus/floral hops and light-moderate malt sweetness; with great strength. Taste of big grapefruit, tangerine, lemon zest, pineapple, orange peel, floral, grass, pine, light caramel, bread, and floral/grassy earthiness. Moderate amount of pine/citrus peel bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of grapefruit, tangerine, lemon zest, pineapple, orange peel, pine, light caramel, bread, and floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice robustness and complexity of bright citrus/floral hops and light-moderate malt sweetness; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium-high carbonation and medium bodied; with a very smooth, crisp, and lightly sticky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall, even though this is labeled as an amber, it is an excellent IPA style. All around great complexity and balance of bright citrus/floral hops and light-moderate malt sweetness; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.

"Will be good for 20 years", the label says; I dug it up from a forgotten corner of my cellar at 3 years of age and serve it in a large wine glass at cellar temperature, which is usually perfect for this style of beers. Pours a beautiful, pure and clear orangey amber colour under a thin, milky, yellowish light beige head which needs some forcing to develop but after that retains quite well, though it does break open after minutes; with deposit it becomes a bit more brownish and clouded, with dark dead yeast particles at the bottom. Delicate, strong and fascinating bouquet of strawberry, orange peel, walnut liqueur, gooseberries, rhubarb, lime peel, blue cheese, something woody, something vaguely earthy, old dry sherry, cognac, freshly cut red apple, ginger, pink grapefruit, white pepper, drambuie, tomato concentrate, vanilla; oxidation is already setting in but cannot bother me in this style. Noble sweet onset, honeyish, with exotic fruits dancing around, smooth and somewhat oily mouthfeel, very vinous with low carbo, caramelly and somewhat nutty malt backbone apparently hailing from only one malt type (which is a rare feature in general), retronasal oxidation but not unpleasantly so, peppery notes and a long, vinous, satisfying finish with citrussy hop bitterness, liqueurish but in all quite well masked alcohol and lingering malt sweetness, a bit honeyish still, as in the onset; some liqueurish sugary sweetness also sticks, but not more than expected from the style. I don’t know what it is with Italians and barley wines: I dare to assume it’s their experience with fine wines which leads them to make some of their best beers this vinous, and I absolutely love them. This is progressive indeed: contemporary, arty label, and American-inspired by being quite hoppy (in this case the Sorachi Ace speaking), which is usually far less the case in traditional English or Belgian barley wines. The hoppiness did lose some of its flair after the years of cellaring but it’s the maltiness, fruitiness and wine-like feel that makes up the essence of this style and I can imagine this still being interesting after a couple of decades, though I would never recommend keeping a beer that long. In all: exciting find, I didn’t even remember buying this, and a great nightcap on a Sunday evening.