Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Backlog June 2009. Reddish brown body under a dense beige head. Strong aroma of malt, ripe fruit, caramel and alcohol. Taste is sweet malt, dry fruit, wood, alcohol and slightly harsh bitterness. Fine body with long lasting aftertaste. Several positive elements here, but ends up a bit raw and unfinished imo.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Purchased at the sterk, in Amsterdam during my first trip. Rich beer, a meal in the bottle, the alcool is really present, burning the throat, malty, plum. 02.09.2018

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

bottle from dsnowden, thank you!
A really nice porter, big on the rosted malt, and some nice chocolate, and coffee notes. Flavour is very roasty, and finished with a nice coffee bitnerness. As it warmed i got some subtle fruitiness in the aroma, and flavour. Very enjoyable.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Bottle at home. Aroma is bready malt, light fruity, biscuity, mildly hoppy. Flavour is light to moderate sweet and bitter. Body is medium. Mild but pleasant, nothing outstanding about it.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle at home. Aroma is roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, mocha. Flavour is light to moderate sweet and over moderate roasty coffee bitter with a nicely dry finish. Body is medium to full, slightly creamy. Very tasty roasty coffee chocolate Stout.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle at home. Aroma is bready malt, caramel, toast, some toffee, overripe fruits, piney hoppy notes. Flavour is over moderate sweet with an over moderate bitter finish. Medium bodied. Nice hoppy caramel Amber, a bit like a light Barley Wine, clearly this beer wants to grow up and become Anchor’s Old Foghorn.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle at home. Aroma is dark malt, roast, caramel, cocoa, powdery chocolate, some liquorice, with a slight hint of campfire. Flavour is above moderate sweet and bitter. Body is medium. Only very mild smoke, but a pleasing Porter regardless.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

2014 vintage. Bottle from Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Aroma is sweet malt, grain, caramel, toffee, hoppy notes in the finish, touch of berries, caramelized sugar, alcohol. Flavour is sweet and moderate to medium hoppy bitter with a bittersweet finish. Quite boozy with alcohol burn. Body is above medium. Okay drinkable, but kind of rough harsh sugary malt boozy Barleywine, not my favourite.

Appearance - 5 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5.5

It has been a long time since I've had this, but back in the 90s I found it a sweet, relatively run-of-the-mill BW with a herbal accent.

Today, it has a cloudy-murky appearance, and an amber-tan colour. There wasn't much of a head to start with but it's gone quickly. Lots of bubbles on the side of the glass, especially for such a sizeable beer. The aroma is sweet and malty. It's only been 9 months and you can smell already how sherryish this would be if I'd let it age. There's some breadcrusty richness to the malts, and all sorts of caramel. Hops are fairly background in the aroma, lending just a hint of herbal accent, and even that it almost lost in a slightly footy yeast character.
On the palate, it's thick, a little oily, and a little sticky. There is a slight carbonic prickle but just enough to drag this across the palate kicking and screaming. This is big chewy. My impressions from bygone years were pretty much on - this is a very standard BW. It definitely harkens to the formative years of the style in America, where big and chewy was all you needed to get respect. But these days, I like a little flair in my BW, and this doesn't really do that. It's very sweet, with just a shade of hop bitterness. But the malts are not dynamic, just more of that caramel/earth/sherry thing. I've had a lot of BWs like this. I still get that herbal accent, though maybe more sage whereas 10 years ago I thought juniper. It's not enough, though. At the end, the alcohol goes to the bash with the intense sugariness, with that dull earthy quality underneath. It's an uninspiring dynamic

I am surprised that this is this good. Like really really good.