Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Poured from a 500 ml.bottle.
Aroma is rich and decadent with layers of dark chocolate, dark caramel and toffee. Lighter roast notes with hints of dark fruit. Medium light rye whiskey notes with medium light alcohol and faint oak notes.
Pours jet black with a small, thick, creamy, dark mocha head that recedes steadily to the edges where a small film lingers. No lacing and long sheets for legs.
Flavor is fairly sweet with lots of dark chocolate, dark caramel, toffee, treacle and molasses. Lighter roast and coffee notes with some cherry, raisin and prunes. Moderate bitterness and medium alcohol notes medium light rye whiskey notes and faint oak notes.
Mouthfeel is full bodied and a bit creamy with medium carbonation. Low astringency and moderate alcohol warmth.
Overall, a really solid BA imperial stout and one of the better BCBS variants. The rye whiskey notes come through really nicely. Great complexity in the malt profile. Sweet, but not overly so like a pastry stout would be.

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

2025 vintage from Livonia Liquor. Pours a deep brown with no head. Strong aromas of bourbon dominate the nose with oak, vanilla and toasted pecan as it warms. Palate shows more chocolate, bourbon, oak, vanilla and toasted nuts. Bourbon forward and thin on the palate but the lots of intricate warming bourbon from palate to finish. Enjoyable, but a touch thin.

Smooth, slightly sweetish and roasty with some bourbony vanilla, oak, cognac, licorice, hints of chocolate sauce, faint hints of cherries, prunes and toffee syrup. Quite elegant, complex slow sipper. Surprisingly balanced and tasty

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

Bottle.

A- Black color, black liquid, no head.

A- Chocolate, candied nuts, sugary.

F- Chocolate, bourbon, nutty, brown sugar, sweet.

T- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, rich finish.

O- No pecan which is what I expect from a praline, but every other nut in here. Not bad but certainly not the best variant. Drank pretty fresh. Definitely on the sweet side. Mostly chocolate. Half a bottle would've been enough here. Does get nuttier as it warms.

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9.5

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a dark brown foamy head with some retention and some lacing notes. Aroma of chocolate notes with some woody bourbon notes and some vanilla. Taste is also a mix of chocolate notes with some woody notes, some bourbon and vanilla with some noticeable residual sugar notes. Body is full with an oily texture and good carbonation with some discernible alcohol notes. Solid barrel aged stout with noticeable quality barrels used on this one.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

10th January 2026
Bottle. Bright clear dark amber beer, a small and particularly short lived pale tan head. Light palate, a very mild viscosity, good fine minerally carbonation. Smooth malts, a caramel creamy sweetness, not oversweet. Lovely ripe fruity bourbon, punchy flavours but, despite the hefty abv, not particularly boozy. Smooth and mildly dry finish. Rather good then. A barleywine in utter subservience to its barrel but, when the barrelling is this good, well, huzzah!

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9.5 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9

500ml bottle, 2025 vintage. Rich roasted malt with notes of dark chocolate, caramel, toasted marshmallow, vanilla and oak. Pours deep brown with a thin mocha brown head that has very little retention and no lacing. Starts with rich roasted malt, toasted marshmallow and caramel flavors as well as having a rich, full body and decadently smooth mouthfeel. Finishes incredibly smooth with dark chocolate, oak and vanilla flavors that linger on the palate nicely as the warming booziness hits the belly. So damn good…especially on this frigid night.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9

Thick and black with a trace beige head. Very boozy with whiskey, dough, molasses and cherry. Very long finish. Full bodied and smooth