Black Isle Hibernator III

Formerly brewed at Black Isle
Style: English Strong Ale
Munlochy, Rosshire, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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330 ml bottle, bought in Edinburgh. ABV is 7.0%. This is an organic beer. Opaque very dark brown colour, nearly black. Large and lasting creamy tan head. Floaties from the sediment when I pour the last third of the bottle too vigorously. For once I can fully agree with the commercial description on the label: "A strong ale with a wonderfully rich aroma and flavour of fruit cake, treacle and plum." Add that the aroma also has notes of oak and alcohol, and that the very malty flavour also has decent hops in the finish and long aftertaste - and I have pretty much described this brilliant ale.

Bottle at RBESG. Coffee, raisins, a little campfire sourness. There is a nice edge to this one, a beer with no compromises.

330 ml bottle purchased mid-June at the brewery. Aroma of plum and molasses. Deep brown, cloudy, little head. Starts with plummy fruit, but chocolate arrives. Finishes thin, with chocolaty, malty, mildly hoppy complexity. The flavor sticks to the tongue. Top tenner for taking to that desert isle.

[Bottle from Brewery] Deep brown with some ruby tinges and a dense moderate head which maintains a thin layer. Aroma of chocolate, treacle, molasses, fruity character, tobacco. Full, firm body, some sweetness, vinous character, a little alcohol comes through in the finish.

UPDATED: DEC 19, 2011 A deep deep balc brew, with a roast malt nose and a deep bitter roast malt flavour

TK2 Cask Aberdeen Beer festival 07 ... No real nose ... smokey smokey smokey some roast malts little roast bitterness(3.1).... bit thin...tk3 Cask at Edinburgh Beer festival 2008... Deep black ... sweet molisis ... tracle toffee roast malts ... ark fruits ... rich little bitter in end (3.9) cask SRAF 2010 6.2percent ... deep black ... thin tan lacing ... soft dark cocholate malts ... dark malts ... soft easy ... rich chocolate ... smooth chocolate and easy for 6.2... nice 4.0

UPDATED: FEB 7, 2010 Bottle, 8 C°, 2009-12-26, Troon, bottle ordered from brewery AR: coffey, chocolate, liquorice. AP: coffey colored bpdy, high whote moon landscape rockyness F: chocolate, coffey, medium bitterness, honey swetness Bottle no 2 at the scotish tasting 2010-02-06 Göteborg: 4,1 - new average 3,9

Cask at Cloisters. Inky dark brown, medium off-white head. Nose of chocolate-coated raisins, fruit cake, plums, liquorice. Smooth palate, milk chocolate, raisins & fruit. Tiny bit of booze on the finish, but warming rather than aggressive. Some roastiness on the finish too. Lovely stuff.

(RBESG 2007, Glasgow. Bottle) Black color, brown head. Milky chocolate aroma, cocoa, malts and some toffee. Malty chocolate flavor, roasted, cocoa and with a quite nice bitterness after a while.

(Bottled) Muddy darkish amber with almost no head. Malty, licorice-tarry and yeasty aroma with some alcohol. Neutral-malty, pretty roasty, yeasty flavor with licorice and some ashiness. Medium-bodied, medium-carbonated. Got the yeasty part of the bottle, so might be even better.

Bottled. RBESG. Ruby brown colour, brown head. Good toffee-ish malty aroma with notes of chocolate. Excellently malty with toffe and chocolate, ending on an oily note with a late bitterness.