 scrizzz (1246), kirkland, Washington, USA
Apr 14, 2009 Brandy goodness! Candied cherry, sweet plum, no pop to the cork at all. Murky deep reddish brown. Completely still. Earth, oak, more brandy and restrained heat.
nbutler11 (729), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Apr 13, 2009 2008 bottle from WeeheavySD. Pours a murky plum color with no discernable head, as warned. Smells very similar to port, with prominant notes of raisin and vanilla. Cavernous in flavor. Tastes of plums, dates, powered cocoa, malt, wood chips, and brown sugar. Seems to leave a resin on the palate. Certainly sweeter than I’d ever exect from a 12.5% beer. Good, but there’s just something sullen and depressing about this beer that I can’t place.
pantani (1894), Salinas, California, USA
Apr 13, 2009 Brown with no head. Aroma is oak, alcohol, caramel, alcohol, toffee. Taste is brandy, oak, alcohol, caramel, toffee. No sign of infection to me.
bulldogp04 (7), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
does not count  Apr 12, 2009 ’08 Vintage
Pours murky-brown, with a hint of red tinge. Visible, thin-layer of clear alcohol rests atop the surface of this lowly-carbonated beer. Aroma is of figs, port wine, sweet brandy alcohol, oak, slight chocolate-caramel malt. Taste is nearly the same as the aroma, with quite a bit of warming (borderline fusel) alcohol. Ok for this beer and its age, though. Very low carbonation hurts the mouth feel just a bit, in my opinion. This is due to the syrupy-sweet, high alcohol flavor of the beer. A bit more carbonation would have helped to cut through the alcohol and syrupy-sweetness just a bit. Overall, a nice beer and, perhaps, more similar to a port in many ways due to the low carbonation.
marctacoma (34), Fircrest, Washington, USA
Apr 11, 2009 750ml bottle
Pours deep brown, somewhat viscous, no head.
Fascinating stuff, it’s like beer/coffee/chocalate in equal parts.
Malt sweetness dominates, soft, velvety mouthfeel, wonderful complexity. A minor quibble may be that adding so much malt doesn’t accentuate the vanilla notes of the oak - it tends to overwhelm them. But they’re there, and the whole thing works quite well together. Very nice.
ajm (902), Los Angeles, California, USA
Apr 11, 2009 My deep thanks to Shyam for opening this legend, and I hope he is unoffended by how this review is worded. I am just really over this beer. Here’s the overriding concern: the flavor never develops. It starts out tasting like brandied dark strong beer, stays that way in the mid-palate, and finishes like brandied dark strong beer. The tartness of the brandy wood just permeates any caramel, apple, spice character that the base beer had - frankly I think the base beer is too weak to be aged, and wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it is flavorless (an overwrought dubs IPA masquerading as a BW) to begin with.
jake65 (1657), Williston, North Dakota, USA
Apr 11, 2009 Bottle (2008): Very dark brown pour with no head. Strong smells oak and earthiness, just a little sweetness from the brandy. Rich tastes of malt and lots of woodiness. Some more brandy. A little bready too. Not real distinctive in any one area. Very low carbonation, almost flat. Based on what I had expected, a bit on the dissapointing side.
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