Pours a nice ruby red with absolutly no head. Aroma is powerful and fruity/sweet with malts and light alcohol. The flavor is just as strong with caramel and malts with cherry undertones. Has a nice sherry flavor to it with noticeable alcohol finish. Very smooth mouth, an absolutly great barley wine.

Had the 2004 bottle and apparently the last one the bar had. First of all, it pours with no head at all. Comes out in a beautifully deep red color, not red like an Irish red but like the red of a light cherry compot. The aroma had a faint hint of alcohol, mainly sweet, as that of a barely wine but with hints of cherries. Then, I took the first sip.... Cannot taste the alcohol until you swallow it down, otherwise a very non bitter, hint of cherry, taste. 8/5/9/4/18.

Rerate, 2003 bottle. 2003 bottle. Pours a beautiful shade – reddish-ruby tinged copper. Some lacing and some slight visible carbonation. Pasteurization sure does the trick and I can see right through the beer. Aroma is very present – definite creak sherry dominates, emphasis on cream. The barleywine plum/raison alcohol aroma is well represented but in the background. Mouth feel is perfectly felt – a bit syrupy and perfect low carbonation. Taste has some oak, definite alcoholic cherry/sherry. Leaves some of that barleywine aftertaste. A relatively light body for such a strong beer. Alcohol not felt until the throat. 8/4/8/4/17.

BW tasting at Dumdum’s, Late March 2005. Bought at Beers of the World, Oct. 2004. 1999 bottle . Red orange copper ale with a thin white head. Very intense scotch malt alcohol aroma with light oranges. Wonderful mouthfeel of vanilla, malts, maple and light hops. alcohol warmth warms up the mouth. Creamy mouthfeel,smooth and complex. (8-4-9-4-17) 2000 bottle. Reddish copper with thin white head. Much sweeter aroma, with fruity esters and lighter lacohol. Drier sweetness with harsher hops, more floral , notes of raisins and prunes. Still a great body, complex and inviting. Great with a cheddar (9-4-9-4-16)

Dégustation de Vieux Stocks III, Oct. 13, 2006. Tried 1998 to 2002 and 2005. 1998 was a cherry burgundy ale with no head. Great porto malt aroma with light oaken notes. In mouth, veering towards a Pinot de Charente with nice applesauce and warming alcohol. Very complex. The 2005 was rather lighter in colour, more cognac like, with caramel and a cognac alcohol aroma. More astringent in mout, loads of hops, with sweet vanilla notes. Much more straightforward than 1998. 2000 to 2002 showed a gradation from dark to light (change of recipe or just change of colour?). Overall, this beer ages very well. Ratings went from 3.5 to 4.1. Wow, that was fun.