chicagodri (553), Chicago, Illinois, USA Apr 4, 2008 I happened to be in San Diego for the first time the weekend of the release, so I stood my happy ass in line and got some of this great beer. Finally opened a bottle up tonight, and it was a gusher. Take a long time to pour without an overwhelming amount of head. Pours dark brown/black with a thick tan head. Fantastic aroma of bourbon and vanilla. Nice mouthfeel, it doesn’t even seem like a barley wine. Nice caramel flavor, oak, vanilla, bourbon. Amazing beer.
waolsen (1021), Littleton, Colorado, USA Oct 10, 2008 bottle. thanks glkaiser. dark mahogony pour with thin head. big oakey bourbon aroma with a lot of vanilla. creamy and rich. vanilla, oak, sugar and bourbon. michael-pollack (1488), King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA Oct 10, 2008 Bottle: Aroma of bourbon, vanilla, oak, and malts. Too much bourbon in the nose. Poured dark brown in color with a small tan head. Cloudy. Sparkling. Flavor is medium sweet. Tastes of bourbon, malts, chocolate, oak, vanilla, and toffee. Medium body. Dry texture. Average to lively carbonation. Bourbon, vanilla, and oak dry finish. SilkTork (3942), Rochester, Kent, England Oct 10, 2008 GBBF, Trade Day, 2008 Gravity cask. 2nd beer. Wow! Very smooth - velvety. Fresh oak and vanilla ice-cream. Faint twiggy bitterness. Nothing overdone, and a lovely flavour. Top notch, and a pleasure that this has lived up to the hype. A great start to the day. nqualls (422), Tennessee, USA Oct 6, 2008 Bottle. Poured a cloudy brown (worse than normal...really looked like crap) with a one finger beige head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla and toasted malt. Flavor of molasses, chocolate and bourbon. Medium/full body with soft carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. rayg1 (408), Ft. Mill, South Carolina, USA Oct 3, 2008 This was a beer that I have been wanting to try for a long time. My buddy Ross hooked me up with that opprotunity. The beer poured a murky dark brown, nearly black, with a small brown head. Aroma is sweet toffe malts, caramel, and a touch of vanilla. However, the burbon was so strong it was a stretch to pick out the small subtle smells. The taste was big, almost too big of bourbon, any more and I would have called this beer a mess. The oak flavors really struggled to come through over the bourbon and sweet raisin like flavors. This beer was good don’t get me wrong but it could be amazing with a touch less bourbon, perhaps some more aging would have helped this one?
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