(Bottle 65 cl) Courtesy of moejuck. Clear, amber golden with an off-white head. Fresh and fruity, somewhat citrusy aroma. Quite full-bodied with sweetish caramel and a very spicy edge. The finish is hoppy. 230407

Sample from bottle. Pours nut brown. Aroma of malts, sweet. Flavour is hoppy, malty and slight spicy. Finish is spicy and bitter, dry.

Draught chalice at Redbones on 4/10/07
Fluffy white head is medium in size and mostly well-retained atop a clear, golden delicious appleskin colored body with plentiful carbonation and light lacing.
Very hoppy nose boasts tons of dry-hopping and finishing hops. Not a blast of bitterness or acid. Tropical fruits, thick, lush grass and lots of floral aromatics, it’s quite heady and not harried by the malts. Dextrinous, with some honey and very minimal dough, it really lets the hops do their thing. Just a lick of pine sap sits on the finish, reminding of the strength of this stuff. While I find their bottled stuff to be fairly boozey, I thought this was particularly free from alcohol influences. Some light warming on the finish, as expected, but certainly not hot or sharp. Perhaps serving it chilled helped? Aroma strength is high and quite sniffable. I could probably have done without the resinous pine suggestions and just left it at the mango/pineapple-grass, but that’s a minor complaint.
Very dry and attenuated, with dextrinous stickiness and only a bit of biscuity grains. Very crisp, moderately acidic hops dance about the palate and the carbonation is quite spritzy and helps keep the body fairly light for its size. Tangerines, peaches, pink grapefruit and lots of grassiness linger on well with just a slight sweetening on the end, as it warms. Again, I wasnt overpowered at all by any alcohol, though there is some latant acid that builds up on the palate and bites in a bit too much. Great stuff though, love those fresh hop notes.

Bottle. Pour is all black with a medium sized tan-khaki head. Aroma is all coffee. Taste is initially pretty sour, than smooths out to the coffee and more traditional Imp Stout flavors. You can certainly taste the alcohol in this one, though it is masked. This was tasty, but not real complex.

10th rater. Twist off cap on this 650ml bomber. Poured into a Duvel tulip glass with a very small head. Looks almost brown colored but when viewed against the light one can see this is an extremely dark ruby red color. Almost complete clarity in the light and absolutely no clarity away from the light. Aroma is hop heavy with lightly citrus-ed pine-y gassiness. Aroma is full and heavy with a spiked feel on the nostrils. Light alcohol hints hidden underneath all those hops. There is enough strong caramel maltiness underneath the hops to offset it. A very young Bigfoot-like feel to it. Taste is similarly hop filled with a similar malt flavors adding a good amount of sweetness and heaviness to the flavor but overall not as heavy as the aroma would indicate. An interplay of sweetness from malt and hops throughout. A medium-strong bitterness intersects the sweetness and finishes with a burnt caramel aftertaste. As the beer warms the alcohol becomes more apparent and the sweetness a bit overwhelming. Its a hefty body and slightly under-carbonated, creating for a strong presence on the cheeks. A very nice West Coast barleywine from a nice NYS brewer.

Tasted blind @ Cornboy’s 2nd Annual BW tasting. Don’t know how much stock I put into my own blind tastings but here it goes. Piney hops dominant aroma. Taste starts with pine and ends with slightly empty raisins. 7/3/7/3/15. Pretty close the original rating. Bottle was same batch but about a year old.

Bottle courtesy of Hogtownharry: Poured a golden amber color ale with a medium foamy head with slightly below average retention. Aroma of bitter and citrus is dominating as expected but is well balance with some sweet caramel malt. Taste is also a nice mix between citrusy bitter malt with a nice backing of caramel malt. Body had an oily texture and was about medium full with some low carbonation. Very good take on the style but probably still notch down from my personal favourite such as Dreadnaught and Smuttynose Big A IPA.

Bottle from jah noth. Clear copper body, thick off-white head. Crisp, bright hops aroma delivers abundant citrus and pine notes. Caramely malt notes lurk beneath the hops. Sugared grapefruit adequately captures its complexity. The body is an oily, resinous hops tea, featuring a medley of flavors, including abundant citrus, burnt fall leaves, perfume, flower petals, and pine. Lingering sugary fruit syrup coats the palate at the end of each sip, becoming overbearing after a short period of time. This beer is a lesson in complexity not equaling greatness, as there is simply too much in the way of resiny hops to really enjoy this beer. My verdict is favorable but with the caveat that the parts are greater than the whole in this case.