 dmac (1183), Toms River, New Jersey, USA
Jul 3, 2009 12 oz single bottle from Spirits RB. Man is this complex and nice. Pours a very ugly muddy brown with some visible floaties drifting around and a smallish biege head that actually leaves some nice lace. Aroma is great!! Notes of caramel, buttery toffee, raisins, oak, brandy, toffee, molassess, almonds. Fuller bodied that finishes dry and hot from the alcohol but at 18.5% how the hell are you not going to notice it?? Flavor finishes with some raisin sweetness and starts off with a good dose of alcohol, caramel, toffee, sherry, molassess and biscuit. Ok time to grab about five more of these bad boys for an aging experiement!!!
DruncanVeasey (2369), The Penguin’s Arms, Warwickshire, England
Jun 29, 2009 12oz bottle imported from NYC by Nav, aged nearly 4 years, and the strongest beer I’ve ever tasted by several percent (in training for a Scandinavian jaunt). Pours almost burgundy with a yellowish fizz of a head that hisses out in seconds like cola. Languorous spiritous legs wobbling down the sides of the glass. Beer’s got some, too. Sticky fig, sweet sherry and juicy dried fruit aroma with vanilla oaky Bourbon tones, caramel sauce, crushed almonds, toffee, massive bitter wee dram and high alcohol vapours. You can TASTE the alcohol wafting out of the snifter before this gets anywhere near your mouth. Instant heat and sweet Bourbon thickness; smooth but hot like..brandy or barley wine eisbock stirred with a Twiglet. So much alcohol it numbs the tip of the tongue. Sherry, soy, Thomas Hardy and toffee stickiness mingled with the raw spritous glow and bitterness of alcohol. Fat, hot, sticky and humming like the dregs of your Nan’s Xmas trifle. Pleasure and pain; sweetness and bitterness (but overwhelmingly sweetness) teetering on the very edge of beer. Mildly hallucinogenic, sets your ears on fire. Good sessions brew.
l1br4r14n (174), Washington, Washington DC, USA
Jun 27, 2009 Wow. Rich sweet malt aroma with raisins and alcohol. Flavors are big time malt, raisins and strong alcohol flavors. Bitter finish. I’m thinking this would be nice aged, but a recent bottle is just too boozy and one dimensional.
mirjukka (659), LOHJA, Finland
Jun 14, 2009 bottle 355ml 14€ shared Pikkulintu, Helsinki, Fruit Weeks 2009. Color: deep amber. Strong raisins flavor from first sip. No any idea about Batch number or age. Tasty full flavor young raisins barley wine or old one. Confusing. Sticky fruity mouth feel totally full body. One part of 100 euros session evening luckily shared bottles
bobbypaulson (100), , Minnesota, USA
Jun 11, 2009 2005 bottle it pours a light glowing brown with zero head. The smells very sweet (honey) and the raisins come through along with other dry fruits. The taste is of maple syrup with a nice dry warming finish. With the age on the bottle the alcohol level isn’t offensive at all. This is great beer for a really cold winter day it’s really warms you much like apple cider mixed with some captain Morgan.
nickd717 (788), Palo Alto, California, USA
Jun 9, 2009 Bottle from Wegman’s in Princeton. Pours a deep clear orangish amber with a small off-white head. Aroma of sweet malt, raisins, honey, and of course alcohol. Flavor is a sweet raisiny alcohol explosion. Like a liqueur almost, with fairly low carbonation. A little hot, might improve with age. Good stuff though.
xnoxhatex (1074), Grand Rapids/Chicago, Michigan, USA
Jun 7, 2009 2002 vintage thanks to Cornfield at DLD ’09. Clear amber with no head. Aroma is sweeter maple but not offensively so, slight alc, vanilla, honey (mead like), real nice. Sweet bourbon aged mead like, honey, burn, vanilla, maple, aged notes. Medium and syrupy with burn. Nicely aged and heat is less than normal but still present, like a barrel-aged mead. Thanks Carl!
shp555 (1429), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Jun 7, 2009 Pours a deep amber color with a tiny tan head. Aroma is raisins, caramel, toast, a touch of earthyness, and alcohol. Flavor is sweet syrupy malt, caramel, biscuit, raisins, and a sweet alcohol finish.
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