Bottle from Beer Essentials. Froths disinterestedly for a few secs and fizzes out. Headless, fat and blubbing like a barley wine 3% stronger. Ominous vegetal baked bean rawness on the pour, giving way to smothering thick toffee, prune, mouldering grape and Baltic/imperial Bovril stickiness. It’s getting there. Creosote, Twiglet, chewy dark fruit and demerara in the mouth. Cloying, packed with curranty fruit and aggressively bittersweet. Needs some time in the bottle to dull the edges, but I’m actually enjoying the harshness of flavours without a massive onslaught of alcohol. Not a hint of burn. Thick, raisiny, intensely yeasty and bittersweet BW of serious promise.

<b>Bottle 33cl. &#64; chris o’s Pre-GBBF Shindig 2008.</b><br />Clear medium amber color with a small to average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to light heavy malty, roasted, caramel, licorice notes. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. &#40;020808&#41;

330ml bottle &#40;Sainsbury’s&#41;<br /> Deep orange to brown. Smells like mulled cider - spicy. Quite carbonated. Sharp bretty taste, tangy hops, fruity and a bit yeasty. Feels like it could improve with a year of ageing. Until then it’s a bit cloying. A bit raw and sweet. Bucket-loads of potential, though, with nice tangy sourness not seen since my last Gales POA.

Bottled. Reddish amber colour, small head. Aroma is sweet alcohol, raisins and some mild caramelly notes. Flavour is dark fruits, grassy and some alcohol too. The finish is mainly burning sweet alcohol.

Bottle at chris o’s i’ll tidy your garden if you pay me in beer tasting. Alround rating: A strong malty english barley wine, fruity character, some peppery alcohol, some figs and toffee apple. Strong beast but tasty.