Bottle from the Hannukah sampler pack, from Beer Run in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a hazy dark brown color with a thin fizzy brown head that fades quickly to the edges. Aroma of chocolate, toffee, brown sugar, grapes, berries, citrus, some toastiness. There is a bit of a metallic note to the hops that is a bit offputting. The taste is chocolate, toffee, soy, bitter hops, citrus and other fruity notes, nuts, grapes, more bitter hops in the finish. Medium-full bodied. Nice beer.

22 oz bomber, $5 on sale @ Binny’s. Missed a chance to pick up the vertical box, but let’s open this individual bottle while Hanukkah is still going on: Solid black stout body under a brown layer of foam. Smell has some alcohol to it, but is kind of light for a barley wine. But maybe it was my choice of a small snifter. Re-pouring after the first sip offers an entertaining display of small brown bubbles forming and trying to rise to the top against the thick body. And yes, it does taste kind of thick. Very malty, with a thread of hop bitterness trying to settle in against the nearly syrupy texture. But this is a really nice malty brew. Whatever those 14 malts used are, they seem to be in equal proportion, as the blackness does not come with any stout bitterness. Call this one a Black IPA that detoured into "black barley wine" territory. As a new barley wine, it still shows a bit of roughness that would smooth down in a few years. Even heartier than my beloved Bigfoot. Next time I’m at the store, I may have to get a few more of these to lay down and start looking up when Hanukkah ends each year. L’Chaim indeed!

I have had this beer many times in the past few years. I had it fresh then, aged, and finally fresh one more with the Vertical Jewbalation gift pack released this year (btw, an awesome thing for this brewer to do). This beer stands out a the most down to earth beer out of the Anniversary series. It comes off as a strong brown ale with earthy, chewy malts all over the place, the hops still take a back seat to the malts in this brew. As it aged, it fought off oxygen pretty well. As oxidation sat in, it actually complemented the beer. The final bottle I tasted was 2 years ago in the summer, making it 4 years old and it was definitely done at that point. Had it along side the 9th Anniversary, which was still holding up. I do not recommend aging a filtered 12oz bottle but it was a nice experience and I am glad I got to try it fresh again to round off my journey with this beer.

12 ounce bottle from the sampler pack. Pours a dark clear reddish brown color with a medium sized frothy, creamy brown head. Decent head retention and lacing. Chocolate and cocoa aromas are eminating from over a foot away. Other aroma notes include toffee, citrus, berries, caramel. The taste is quite bitter citrus hops followed by currants, raisins, chocolate, toffee, candied citrus, nutty notes, coffee and a bitter, leafy hop finish. Medium bodied. Nice one.

12 ounce bottle from the sampler. Pours a very dark brown color with a thin brown creamy head. Decent head retention and lacing. The aroma is fairly faint with notes of chocolate, toffee and leafy citrus hops. The taste is chocolate, toffee, nutty notes, berries, candied citrus and leafy hops. Thin-medium bodied. Decent.

Draft @ Redlight Redlight. Pours dark brown/black color with light tan head. Aromas of sour dark fruits. Tart flavor of raisins and plums with a little coffee. Medium body with minimal carbonaton.

12 ounce bottle from the sampler, from Beer Run in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a clear but very, very dark reddish brown color. Brown creamy head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma of dark malts, chocolate, cherry-like fruits, nutty almost oatmeal-like nuts and faint citrus hops. The taste is chocolate, nuts, oatmeal, leafy bitter hop finish. Faint very dry fruity notes as well, almost like cranberries or pomegranate. Medium bodied. Decent beer.

Bottle. Pours dark orange with thick lasting foamy head. Citrus and rusk aroma, with some flower. Full bodied, orange, bitter orange and rusk flavours. Endless hop finish. A rye to remember.

22 oz. bottle, pours black with a beige head. Very complex aroma of caramel malts, brown sugar, dried fruits and molasses. Flavour is extremely sweet; sweet dried fruits, caramel, brown sugar - too cloyingly sweet. Extremely enjoyable but the immense sweetness is a bit of a turnoff. Alcohol is extremely well-hidden - I can't believe this is 14%.

Pours dark brown color with tan head. Aromas of dark fruits, molasses, citrus and alcohol. Flavors of raisins and plums, sweet caramel and citrus fruits. Very boozy. Medium to full body with moderate carbonation.