Refrigerated 12.7 brown bottle poured into a snifter. Black with dark brown highlights and beige. Aroma is light tobacco, medium body, low carbonation, and some lacing. Taste is dark malt, tobacco, leather, and herbal hop balance.

Pours dark amber with a quickly fading head.Nose shows rum, coconut, golden syrup, brown sugar and some funk.Flavours include lemon rind, rum, funk, coconut and brown sugar.

Pours gold with a large head.Nose shows pear and apple notes, soft spicy phenols, sweet light malt and some confectionery.Flavours include more sweet light malt, some booze, Belgian yeast notes. A little too boozy.

Shared 25.3 oz. bottle. Hazy dark copper with lots of sediment. Long-lasting off-white head with soapy lacing. Aroma of caramel, spice, malt, and citrus with floral elements. Taste is heavy on the malt, with a touch of citrus and pine. Seemed stale. Not the biggest Imperial IPA fan, but I suspect the bottle age likely affected this rating.

Shared 12.7 oz. bottle. Hazy golden color with a short-lived small white head. Aroma of sweet malt and lemon. Taste is sweet malt, grain, spice, white pepper, lemon. Has a tangy, citric finish. The bottle may have been past its prime. Okay.

750ml bottle found in rural Alberta, no it ain’t retired as far as I can tell, though maybe this is on the way out and remaining stocks will just be depleted. Pours with modest slightly creamy head and swampy brown body that bodes plenty of carbonation. Soft hay and malt aroma, barn funk and hazelnut kinda. Flavour is an earthy nut with hints of malty caramel and said barn funk. Like sucking on a plank of wood from the barn that the cows had lived in. Medium finish, could use a little more presence on the mouth. Hefty and I like the earthy tones. Too bad it’s having a retirement party.

Bottle from Market Street Wine Shop downtown. Pop the cork - holy shit. I have never seen such pressure behind a cork. It hit the ceiling and disappeared somewhere. Hazy dark golden with lots of floaters and a large large large off-white head. Smells of banana, bubblegum, yeast out the ass, apple, rubbing alcohol. Taste is pleasant. Apple, pear, wheat, rubbing alcohol, dried apricot (the kind you get in plastic bags in the health food section), spices. This is pretty tasty.

Shared 12.7 oz. bottle. Pours almost black with a large, persistent and foamy tan head. Roasted malt, light coffee, and vinous notes in the aroma. Flavors of wood, alcohol, light coffee, a bit of wine, and light chocolate notes. The unconventional barrel-aging almost works, but not quite... Decent.

Bottle. Slightly dirty amber with a frothy white head that lasts OK. Aroma of pine, biscuit, mandarins, lime leaf. Sweet with mandarins, some dough (perhaps that’s the Belgian bit), caramel, sharper citrus and pine needles at the fairly bitter finish. Maybe a bit sweet for me, but pleasant and easy going with nice fruit and pine.

Pours deep amber with a small head.Nose shows soft herbal hops, fruity confectionery and spicy notes.Flavours include spicy hops, doughy wheat, banana and sweet malt.