Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle: Pours a dark brown with light crimson accents. Large, creamy tan head. Aroma is rich and sweet with dark fruitiness, roast, and bourbon. Flavor profile is centered aroun the barrel aging, but still retains a little character from the fruits and roast. Nice creamy palate. Thanks to a generous, but forgotten Ratebeerian for sending this in trade.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Cloudy copper color with a fizzy fast head. Caramelized sugary aroma with an herbal presence in the background. Huge sweet malt flavors up front, with alot fo sugary graininess coming up behind. A little harsh with alcohol showing. There are also some light berry-like fruits, perha s cherries or gooseberries in character.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
This beer was nice but the guys below are overdoing it a bit, bunch of wankers. Cask @ Blind Tiger. Pours like the headless horseman, with the dark soul. Aroma is definitely dominated by the dry hopping of the elderberry. It comes off as dry leafy petals, not green leaves, not floral, but leafy dry petals, weird, different, and interesting. I am also surprised how much more easy drinking this is than the oaked version. Some light chocolate but still an herbal and not an "in your face brew to the extreme" beer. Is this really 12%, I can hardly believe it, actually I can’t believe how different this is compared the normal (its weird when oaked becomes the regular) version.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
750 ml from JB175; after almost a year in my cellar! Nose of light apples, peppery spices, and a light funky note; clear copper with a huge off-white head; flavor is very spicy with nutmeg and pepperiness, candi sugar, fruitiness, yeast, and a tiny smidgeon of hops in the finish, but the must have mellowed after 10 months in the cellar!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
750ml bottle-pours a retaining rich brown head and black color. Aroma is bourbon, vanilla, dark malt, oak, slight acidic. Taste is bourbon, vanilla, sweet dark malt-licorice, oak, slightly acidic, anise, dark fruit-(dark berry) alcohol, some yeast. A lot going on but straight forward. OK/mild carbonation. Thanks to jwc215(BA) for sharing.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
750 ml bottle from beastiefan2k. Pour is a gusher - hazy golden with floating particulates with a billowing white head that falls fast. Very fine carbonation is visible. Aroma of Brandy booziness, with floral-citrus hops. Lots of apple on the nose. Taste is very sharp on the apple Brandy initially, falling quickly into more traditional Tripel flavors - fruit (apple) sweetness with grassy Belgian yeastiness. Pretty boozy on the finish. Really cool concept that was well executed, just too much Brandy and apple for me. Thanks for sending this one my way Eugene!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
750 ml bottle generously shared by tjthresh. Pour is clear golden with a billowing white head. Visible carbonation bubbles. Head settles to a nice, rocky - big bubble with nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of bright citrus and apple hoppiness. There is also Belgian sugar yeastiness. In the very back of the nose, there is a soft biscuit maltiness. Very complex nose. Taste is big bitter sweetness in the front, fading into a grassy yeastiness. Carbonation is present and lightens the otherwise full palate. Thanks for sharing this one Tom, and thanks for sending it to KC Jason!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Dark burgundy-brown with a thick, mountainous head. Crazy nose - tart, dark fruit, hints of smoke. Nice complex, esoteric depths so hard to wrap my head around. Soft body, almost too much so as it borders on plasticy. Dark fruits, light malt, toffee and a subtle barrel influence. You wouldn’t even pick out rum. Interesting, if nothing else.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Thanks to Stine for sharing. An usual beer. I am happy to see a non-bourbon barrel, the apple brandy is a good idea and not something I have had before. This is hot from alcohol. It has a very nice apple and yeast aroma, as if it is naturally fermented in barrels, almost like a lambic. The apple character is there in the aroma and flavor, some hint of brandy or even calvados.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Batch 002
Slightly lighter dark brown than the 001. The aroma is boozy still but a little more pronounced to the bourbon. Soft chocolate and toffee come together well. Soft body with a delectable brown sugar note. Seems to surrender some complexity to achieve a more pleasurable character, but a nice brew. 7 3 6 3 14 = 3.3
Batch 001
Very dark brown with a thick head. Very pretty beer. Boozy, woody nose with molasses accents and burnt raisin notes, and a hint of chocolate chip cookie dough. Boozy and harsh on the tongue, with some chocolate and toffee undertones. Gets woody and very dry in the finish. 7 4 7 4 14 = 3.6