Bottle from Billa, Vienna. Golden with next to no head but moderate carbonation. Aromas of caramel, sweet marmalade and grassy hops. Sweet flavour with plenty of toffee, orange and nuts. A dryish finish with plenty of warming alcohol. Lacking in distinctive character.

Tasted 25/09/2006. 330ml bottle from Beerstore - my last of the first shipment. I gasp as I see it pour yellow gold. At 9.6% I know this won’t have enough hops to hold it up, so dark malt was my only hope. Billowing airy white head, disappears soon after I put the glass down. Warm alcohol and a little spicy herb on the nose. The same in the mouth but worse. Should come in a can really - and be drunk out of a paper bag (by Brendon and Greig, the bus stop brothers-in-arms). If I had something other than a hugely phenolic IPA (aha, but who’s all phenolic this week?) in the beer fridge I would probably not sip my way through this...

Bottled. Has a clear ambar color, almost orange, starts with a nice white head, but not persist for a long time. Aroma is weak, some citrus and malt notes. Flavor is dry with a lot of alcohol presence, not good. Mouthfeel is dry..

Tomada em Genebra, nos foi apresentada como 23% de teor alcoólico. Depois é que constataram que não era nada disso. Foi como se, de repente, ela tivesse perdido o encanto. Todavia, ela é forte mesmo... Encorpada, maltada, deixa também o álcool no paladar, o que compromete sua drinkability. Mas vale experimentá-la pela sua singularidade.

2001 version, tasted in March ’08. This beer was amazingly well aged, and had gotten much smoother and rounder over time. Rich nutty malt aroma with butterscotch and cheese, butter. Sweet flavor; bit malt with butterscotch and nuts. Rich and full bodied, but not too heavy. Extremely smooth, but some funk and cheese as a result of the aging. There is a grand after-taste that lingers on and on. The hops in this are also really full-on. This is a very well-balanced, full tasting beer that has aged remarkably well.