2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20Bottle thanks to MwBrady12. Pours caramel brown. Nose and taste of sticky caramel, pancake batter, smoked maple syrup, toffee candy, dried oak, candied dark fruit and smoked oatmeal. Slight burnt plastic and medicinal notes. Medium body. Burnt caramel infused alcohol in finish. Very sticky mouthfeel finishes abruptly dry.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Draft pour on tap at Local Option (Chicago, IL). Really excited to finally have at this. Pours a deep dark copper brown hue, good copper glow, mellow hazed, with loose tannish bubbly head atop, dies to a small layer, laces small. Some nice deep dark glow. Aromas are firm barrel, oak, yeast. A gentle spicinessz, grainy malts, vanilla, caramel, and some marmalade. Caramel, toffee, a touch sweet and fruity. Mellow oat and oak. Initial is medium bodied, a touch fruity with oak, vanilla, some red fruit and sweeter toffee. Oak, gentle spirit and spice as we round into the middle. The barrel aged element makes itself known. A touch of red licorice, wet oak and whiskey. Some sweet toffee, biscuit, and dry earthy elements. A touch oxidized, the barrel has thinned this in a good way. Backend is a bit sticky, toasty, oaky. Oat and biscuity malts, touches of florals, earth, wet wood and malty sweetness. Some caramel, toffee, some oat and bready malts. Mellow barrel, touch of spirit, and vanilla. Oak, sticky sweetness is fleeting, carmelized, cereal, and gentle red fruit influence. Pretty nice barrel aged Oatwine, fresh with some gentle oxdized malt, some good red fruit and toasty malts, a touch thin into the back but not hot. Solid offering. Just getting a little tired of big brooding beers at this time in the day.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle (not numbered). Pours a dark amber. Tiny off white head. Strong alcohol aroma. Big flavor of dry alcohol and caramel. Very dry finish. Curious about the ABV. Assume its pretty high. I have high expectations when it comes to Dark Horse beer and rarely have I been disappointed. Maybe its just my lack of experience with Barley wines, but overall this one was just OK for me. Decent stuff but probably wouldn’t buy another bottle of this.
4.8 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 19/20
UPDATED: MAR 27, 2013 Holy sweet Lord a behemoth of a beverage. Writing from memory, unfortunately, but while I drank it I remember rating it accordingly in my head. It blew me away. It danced the fine line between beer and liquid godliness, a line that shares a neighborhood with the better facets of whiskey, wine, and debauchery to the utmost degree. Sustenance in a bottle. Dangerous, potent, and stupefyingly good.
Edit: Also drank on draft at a beer festival, and was sorely disappointed. I enjoyed it then too, but the carbonation was completely lacking in the draft version, and had been incredible (albeit underhanded, as one would appropriately expect) in the bottle.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Sample at 2013 MBG Winter Beer Festival. Sticky and a bit odd. Dried fruits and grains. Like liquid granola.
2.8 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
bottle 603/666
Aroma is clean dry alcohol with a grain bent to it.
Body and color are a light amber. thin ring around.
Flavors are on the alcohol end, dryer then i expected, i guess its the oats. Light thin toffee. really oats and buscuity forward too. Like a maltier grain alcohol.
Body is medium full.
Share this bottle. I am going solo, but a few people would be nice. I like it, but it lacks the deep richness to be a solo bottle.
3.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Copper with no head. Oaty and malty. Raisins and grapes. Heavy on the palate. Big fuckin beer.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 16/20
Total malt bomb but notes of caramel, booze, slight maple. Not the most drinkable brew but packed with flavor.
2.6 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Bottle 16/666 shared by BenC...thanks Ben! - Pours clear ruby amber with a thinnish tan head. Nose is oaky and sharp, real boozy with rubbing alcohol. Malty and dry, with an oatiness. Taste is better. Not so oaky and boozy, with more of the sweet malt base coming through. Finishes with more booze and a little dark fruit. Thin and dead body, slick.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
On tap at Alchemy in Madison, pours a reddish brown with an off white head and a little bit of lacing, the aroma has notes of dark fruit mixed in with a little bit of hops, the flavor is very sweet on the front end with a lot of plum and dark fruit with a slight hop touch in the finish, kind of odd, really does not hide the booze at all and the ABV can be both tasted and felt, I drank the entire glass because it was kind of pricey but wouldn’t seek this one out again.
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