UPDATED: SEP 29, 2023 22 oz. bottle, thanks to Ratman. Pours black, with a small, beige head. The aroma is cloves, butter toffee, mild coffee, vanilla, toasted oak, and cardamom. Sweet and malty, with a mellow bitterness. A bit boozy. Heavy, chewy, and bready. Beautiful and decadent.

UPDATED: SEP 2, 2021 Bottle. Heavy malt aromas of roasted, cereal, caramel, molasses and cookie, moderate cooked orange for the hops, light to moderate broth for the yeast, with brown sugar, dates and dried figs, and tobacco in the background. Head is small, fizzy, beige, with no lacing and is almost fully diminishing. Color is murky, dark brown. Flavor starts heavily sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes heavily sweet and moderately bitter. Palate is medium to full, slick, with a soft to lively carbonation, and finishes moderately to heavily alcoholic and a bit sticky. Wow, is this a complex beer. An American Strong Ale is an apt style description, but the conglomeration of beers that make this one up kinda gets lost in such a pedestrian title. You rock Firestone Walker!

UPDATED: MAR 14, 2020 Pours dark mahogany with aroma of whiskey, vanilla, fig, and some chocolate. Vanilla, fig, and molasses flavor with some whiskey background. Very nice!

Pours deep amber with off-hite head. Syrupy malty sweet aroma. Quite sticky-sweet barleywine-like flavor with some black IPA characteristics...pretty much as advertised. Notes: on tap at the Aces & Ales Strong Beer Fest '12

UPDATED: FEB 19, 2018 Nearly black pour, thumb sized head, specs of lacing. Aroma of toffee, whiskey, vanilla, lighter cocoa notes, dark fruits. Vanilla and whiskey up front, again some faint fruit notes, light cherry, toffee, fig, brown sugar. Medium body.

sample from bottle @ZZT 2017 at Benzai's, shared by ElManana, pours dark brown with a khaki head. aroma of caramel, brown sugar, grain, figs, bourbon, Taste of grain, rye, caramel, toffee, sweet malts, alcoholic, bourbon, dried fruits, a bit over the top for a barley wine-ish style, full body, still ok

Bottle shared at ZZT. Almost clear dark brown with small beige head. Lots of bourbon, toffee, dried herbs, light grass. Lots of sweet malts, alcohol, walnuts. Oxidized dried prunes, raisins. Marzipan, more alcohol. Over medium sweet and bitter. Almost full bodied.

Bottle @ ZZT Fall 2017. Brown colour with small beige head. Smells sweet, malty, barleywine, chocolate. Tastes sweet, malty, raisins, barleywine. Full body, soft carbo.

Draught at City Beer SF. Light brown color, white head. Bitter taste with citrus, toffee, hops, resin, nuts, oak, dried fruit, raisins, a bit of pine and caramel. Bitter finish with citrus, dried fruits, hops, toffee, oak, resin, pine, nuts and caramel. Exquisite American strong ale.

Bomber. Deep amber small head shirt retention. Nose raisins and caramel. Some oxidation. Taste raisins, caramel, bourbon. Some oxidation. Finish bourbon and raisins. Pretty hot. Light spicy notes. Nice bourbon. Well balanced. Nice stuff.