2014 bottle, sampled at Ball Square Fine Wines, 12/4/15.
A ruddy brown body has a tan ring of bubbles that rapidly fizzles. Clarity is moderate to moderately-high.
Bourbon, brandy, light milk chocolate and all sorts of brown sugar, vanilla, concentrated honey and other such notes. It’s much more of a Belgian nose than an American barleywine. Though it’s still difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s going on here. Certainly the alcohol adds to the aroma but as the beer is going on two years old, it’s much more mellow heat-wise. Smells pretty good, overall. If I was pressed, I’d say dry milk chocolate, soft cherry/strawberry/apple esters, mild toffee and lightly spicy whiskey are the key aromatics here.
Pretty close to still, though very chewy and appropriately attenuated, with plentiful fruitiness, light caramel/toffee sweetness and nutty wood notes with just a touch of light bourbon mixing with the chocolate character. Surprisingly mellow, though maybe that’s not such a surprise given its age now.
It seems like they made a lot of the most recent batch (batch 2?, early 2014?) and have done periodic releases, as well as the De Cacao release (a portion aged on cacao nibs).

On tap at Prohibition Pig, Waterbury, VT. Hazy, pale gold. Bubbly, white head. Aroma of sweet grain. Some lemon. Some peppery notes. A saison funk. Taste is soft sweet, with a little pepper dryness. Soft palate. Easy drinking. Finishes light dry. Decent.

750 ml bottle, Batch 405. Aroma is fruity with some over ripe stone fruit, red apple and pear. Some light banana and bubblegum. Moderately strong spicy, phenolic notes. Some medium vegetable notes and a bit of plastic. Pours a somewhat clear, copper brown with a light amber hue and a large, moderately thick, tan head that exhibits decent retention as it collapses into itself. Moderate lacing and fairly small legs. Flavor has a medium light acidity with a medium light malt note. Malt has some light toasted bread, caramel and nut notes. Some moderate stone fruit notes along with a bit of banana and pear. Medium light bitterness. Medium phenolic notes that take on a bit of a rotten vegetable character. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with medium to medium high carbonation. Low, but present astringency and low alcohol warmth. Overall, an alright beer. The phenolic note isn’t good and definitely has a rotting vegetable character and spice to it. Flavor is better, but is still off in the finish. As it warms the vegetable spice goes away a bit.

750 ml bottle purchased at Julio’s Liquors. Batch 0000049 on label. Dirty brown in color with aroma is sweet, spicy and floral all at the same time. I enjoy the aroma.

The flavor is lightly tart up front and turns into some earth herbs in the finish. Medium in body with a light amount of carbonation level. I wish it tasted like it smells. The flavor is a bit bland and falls shy of what I’m getting from the aroma.

Bottle from AirForceHops. Dark brown with some mushy reddish orange. Smells really nice. Loads of herb, honey, clove, spices, Thin mouthfeel, Loads of spice, honey, chestnuts, plum and walnuts. woody finish. ti’s a decent beer.

750 ml bottle purchased at Julio’s Liquors. Batch 0779 on label. Clear brown color with plenty of carbonation with full white head. Aroma is earthy grain, weak citrus and some yeast.

Honestly the flavor is exactly a carbon copy of the aroma. Lots of bread-like malt with an earthy spice in the finish. The alcohol in a beer under 7 % I don’t ever notice anymore. This is pretty nice.

Bottle from AirForceHops. Nice reddish color, 11 finger head creamy with some sticky lacing. Smells really good. spice is nice, good yeasty aroma. Good mouthfeel, intense bitterness for the style and a little musty mold taste with a bit of wheat body and some pear fruits.

Poured from bottle thanks ClarkVV batch 1 hazy golden minimal head. Aromas of bourbon caramel and cardboard. Taste is the same very boozy and oxidized. Maybe would have been better years ago.

750 ml bottle, thanks to ClarkVV on this one! Batch 1. Mildly hazy color, no head. Aroma is just bourbon and yeast.

Flavor is way past its prime. If the Brewer ever rebrews this I will give this another try. But right now it is cardboard and mild bourbon hints. To much oxidation, why did that happen? The bottle is only over a year old, why is there so much cardboard?