7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
0.5L bottle pours deep darkness with nice looking mocha head. The aroma is at first roasty with a mix of malt balls, roasted malts, a dash of chocolate and then a load of sweet dark fruity esters. The taste is as dark fruit heavy as the nose with sweet Concord grape preserves, huckleberries and sugar coated black currents. A note of sweet molasses adds to the experience along with mild amounts of roasted malts, chocolate malts and black licorice.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Apr 2008
at 20:59
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Cask-conditioned at Penderel’s Oak (JDW, Holborn 8/4/08. Deep, dark brown aroma with a thin tan head. Aroma of sweet and roast malt with some chocolate. Easy drinking with fruity flavours of brambles and blackcurrants and some lovely toffee. Excellent.
Tried
from Cask
on 09 Apr 2008
at 13:46
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Pours deep amber into a snifter. Oak and Lagavulin aromas. Sweet malts upfront smooth through the middle with an oaky whiskey finish.
Tried
on 06 Apr 2008
at 12:47
5.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
[i] [b] Cask at The Bell, Banbury, Oxon, 31-03-08 [/i] [/b] Finished off my evening with a half of this as the very popular Elgoods had just finished. Copper coloured beer with a thin white head, caramel, some malt on the nose, malts in the mouth, I got fed up of rating it after a bit and to be honest it was something of a let down to finish with this after a surprisingly good Monday evening of beer.
Tried
from Cask
on 31 Mar 2008
at 16:39
7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
cask at JDW Edinburgh ... Deep copper ... light fruit malt ... Loads of toffee fruity som hop but lots of sweet fruit malts.
Tried
from Cask
on 28 Mar 2008
at 11:20
7.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
From a 2004 wooden firkin at Capital Ale House - Innsbrook on 08/27/08. Murky orange body with no head. Big fruity apple aroma with some caramel and yeast in the background. Fairly alcoholic kick with very sweet caramel and apple flavor, more light yeast hints. Full body with a very smooth syrupy mouthfeel and no carbonation. (8/3/9/4/17 - 4.1) 2005 bottle on 03/14/2008. Clear dark amber body with a thin white lacing that fully diminishes. Sweet caramel aroma with fruity (apple) hints. Sweet fruity flavor with lots of caramel. Medium full body with very low carbonation with a smooth caramel finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Mar 2008
at 22:10
4.6/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 7
Flavor 4
Texture 2
Overall 4.5
Bottle (2006) from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville. Pours a hazy dark peach color with no head and no lacing. None. A couple of bubbles, but that’s it. Sherry and oak come through strongly in the aroma. This doesn’t seem like a barleywine yet, so let’s move on to the taste. Good God, that is sweet as all hell. Damn. God Damn. That’s sweet. If you get all this god/damnation talk from an avowed agnostic over this beer’s sweetness, it must be pretty f-ing sweet. No bitterness. Oak and sherry also come through in the taste. Definitely a sipper, if you didn’t sip this, you’d puke. This stuff was expensive, so I’m glad I’ll avoid wasting money on the rest of the series. Damn, is there any English beer I like?
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Mar 2008
at 20:42
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Pours amber into a snifter. Head quickly subsides to pock surface. Sweet dry port aromas. Upfront sticky sweet prune. Lasting cloying sour finish. Hmmm
Tried
on 07 Mar 2008
at 22:11
9.4/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9.5
Bottled (vintage 2000, thanks mes_and_sim!). Deep amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is wooden, alcoholic, earth, wet cellar, caramel and some vanilla. Flavour is raisins, sugar, dates, caramel malts, very mildly alcohol. Also bigtime wood, butter and spices. nuts, mild syrup. hmm in one word, Licoricebomb! WOW. 9 5 10 5 20
Bottled (2003 vintage, had in 2012). Deep amber colour, minor head. Aroma is sweet fruits, some mild alcohol, some earth and caramel. Flavour is rather similar with some slight earthy and mild cardboardy notes. 7 4 7 3 14.
B ottled (2004 vintage, thanks mes_and_sim!). Deep amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is very much the same as 2000 vintage, but not as thick and full. Flavour is pretty much the same, but quite much sweeter sugary/syrupy than the 2000 one. Still excellent balance and very nice. 8 5 9 5 18
Bottled (2006 vintage, thanks mes_and_sim!). Clear amber colour with mediumsized beige head. Aroma is mainly oak, syrup, sugar and caramel malts with some dates and raisins. Overall very sweet. Flavour is very different. Very papery, roasted and smoked wood along with dates, raisins and quite much alcohol. Either this one has some smokemalts or something added, or then the smoked/roasted notes just disappear with time. Still nice. 8 5 8 5 17
The above vintages blended into the same glass (thanks for the tip mes_and_sim!). Deep ambery brown colour, small beige head. Aroma is roast, dates, plum, alcohol, caramel, vanilla and quite strong notes of oak. Flavour is an extremely wellbalanced mix of the stuff in the aroma along with some sweet spices and syrup. Rather pleasant, but still, the 2000 vintage is the best of these. Alone. 8 5 9 5 18
Bottled (2003 vintage, had in 2012). Deep amber colour, minor head. Aroma is sweet fruits, some mild alcohol, some earth and caramel. Flavour is rather similar with some slight earthy and mild cardboardy notes. 7 4 7 3 14.
B ottled (2004 vintage, thanks mes_and_sim!). Deep amber colour, mediumsized beige head. Aroma is very much the same as 2000 vintage, but not as thick and full. Flavour is pretty much the same, but quite much sweeter sugary/syrupy than the 2000 one. Still excellent balance and very nice. 8 5 9 5 18
Bottled (2006 vintage, thanks mes_and_sim!). Clear amber colour with mediumsized beige head. Aroma is mainly oak, syrup, sugar and caramel malts with some dates and raisins. Overall very sweet. Flavour is very different. Very papery, roasted and smoked wood along with dates, raisins and quite much alcohol. Either this one has some smokemalts or something added, or then the smoked/roasted notes just disappear with time. Still nice. 8 5 8 5 17
The above vintages blended into the same glass (thanks for the tip mes_and_sim!). Deep ambery brown colour, small beige head. Aroma is roast, dates, plum, alcohol, caramel, vanilla and quite strong notes of oak. Flavour is an extremely wellbalanced mix of the stuff in the aroma along with some sweet spices and syrup. Rather pleasant, but still, the 2000 vintage is the best of these. Alone. 8 5 9 5 18
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Feb 2008
at 14:16
8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 8.5
500 ml bottle (a guess; no volume on the bottle). Whoa! Strong dark fruit aroma. Raisins and plums. Deep mahogany color with a white/beige head that suddenly was not there. Extremely smooth. Medium body with mildly creamy carbonation. The flavors are seductively dark fruits. Mouthsmacking. Near vinous. Aromas of dark raisins keep coming forth. Brings port to mind. Is there bitter? Is there sour? Is there sugar? Yea. This is an exceptionally tasty and puzzling ale. A desert island ale. Pity those who have not experienced this.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Feb 2008
at 20:08