 dhlesq (233), Thousand Oaks, California, USA
Nov 7, 2006
Aroma of raisins, caramel, cabernet-type oak and tannins. Appears a clear red-amber color with no head to speak of. Flavor is cloyingly sweet, vinous, and reminiscent of port wine - good with cheese and salami. Palate is thick and syrupy and a bit excessive. Overall, a very interesting brew that is a bit more than the sum of its parts. The recipe is, however, way out of whack, and could benefit from an attempt at rebalancing. My thanks to SoLan for this interesting brew.
robinvboyer (1007), Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada
Sep 7, 2008 batch #3
very dark ruby pour, small off white head, and lots of floaters.The aroma of LOADED with caramel malt, huge notes of oak, and lots of vanilla. This is the perfect example of a beer that realy benefits from the oak, and really brings out the natural vanilla that oak adds. Now for the flavour.........WHOA this is a HUGE beer. This is the definition of extreme beer. Right off the bat you get SMACKED in the face with booze! A huge warm boozy note warms my mouth and throat. After the initial shock, there are some really nice notes of oak, and vanilla finished with some great caramel malt. This is a sipper, and i think will be tough to finish the whole bottle. This beer was bottled in April of 07, but it could still easily benefit from some age. THIS IS EXTREME BEER.
TearsforBeers (3), Ohio, USA
does not count  Sep 5, 2008 Aroma was boozy caramel with a bit of oak. Nearly opaque orange-amber appearance. Flavor is strong strong strong on malt, very sweet. Body is thick, mouthfeel is syrupy. Overall a great powerful, desert beer.
CaptBier (252), Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Aug 31, 2008 An amber beer with a thin orange head. The aroma is sweet with very strong notes of caramel, but also lesser notes of alcohol and cardamom. The flavor is very sweet and quite strong with a good hop presence as well as strong notes of both cardamom and cinnamon and a huge alcohol warming, leading to a dry spiced and alcohol end. The mouth feel is thick like drinking syrup. One sip of this actually drove my gf crazy, and gag, and thats hard to do.
IPALover (56), Carlsbad, California, USA
Aug 29, 2008 Aroma was overwhelming of oak with almost a bourbon scent. This was too strong for me. Color was a nice medium red color with a white creamy head. The taste was too hot and syrupy. Would have preferred it be alittle drier and with less fusil alcohol.
Generally not one of my preferred barleywines as it has too much port and hot alcohol influence.
Drink4Satan (468), Bristol, Rhode Island, USA
Aug 22, 2008 Pours a deep amber colour with a small, quickly fading off-white head that fades to a small ring. The aroma is extremely rich, with notes of fig and port, vinous malts, molasses, vanilla, wood and overripe fruits. The flavour is cloyingly sweet with a massive vanilla/oak presence, chewy caramel and turbinado. It is noticeably boozy and the fig and port complex is also huge in the taste. The palate is syrupy and full, obviously, with fine and lightly tingly carbonation. It’s not too intense, because I would never admit to that, but it is definitely overly sweet.
|
