12.7 ounce bottle from Market Street Wine Shop Downtown Charlottesville, VA. Pours a muddled brown color with very large unappealing floaties. Medium head, poor head retention and poor lacing. Aroma of banana, toffee and grain. Taste is very grainy, with some fruit and toffee notes. Medium bodied.

A christmas day taste-off between the 2007 and 2008 vintages. Found the 2008 vintage to be spicier, meanwhite the 2007 vintage was more woody on the nose and the flavour was more distinctively orange with apple in the finish. Either way, a brilliant beer. Ho ho ho.

<b>Bottle.</b><br />Unclear medium orange amber color with a small, virtually none head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, caramel, vintage 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 soft. (070808)

Aroma is slightly sweet with notes of apple, cherry, caramel, and yeast. The beer looks gorgeous with a deep orange colour and a ton of floaties suspended in the beer, this has a very small head, but the head has very good retention, considering I’ve been sitting next to it for about ten minutes waiting for my computer to re-boot. Taste has distinct caramel notes, with plenty of hop bitterness, this tastes like a very strong esb. Palate is sharp from bitterness with a slight burn from the alcohol. This however is pleasant and not overwhelming at all.

Bottle, 375ml. Pours russet, with little short-living head, and soft lacing. Fruity on the nose, and full-bodied on the palate, with well balanced yeast, barley, and malt, with the faintest of notes of honey. With the reassuring sediment of a properly fermented beer, a very decent ale.