Finally I scavanged a bottle from a trade; this sample has been properly racked for 3 years: Poured jet black with a creamy mocha colored cap that lasts and laces well. Roch chocolate and wet hay aroma. Thick silky mouth feel. Flavour is decadent dark roasted cocoa and figs with a wonderful pervasive resinous hop bittering in the back. Long rich wet finish with lingering cocoa after tastes. BLOODY MARVELOUS STUFF!

2005 bottle, Beer Bistro. Tar black, small tan head. Looks oily. Wonderfully yielding smokey nose with no hint of alcohol. Simple smoothness. Buried inside are blackberries, figs, black cherries, and a touch of vanilla bean. Perfectly silken palate. No edges whatsoever. Just a whisper of carbonation left to carry the palate forward. Unbelievably, sinfully smooth. Rounds to a roasty but unburnt latte-like finish after passing through a dark chocolate stage and its oaty beginning. Ashamed to have not drank one more.

Courtesy Secret Santa. Black pour with a thin dark tan head. Mild powdered cocoa aroma, light roast, mild molasses, alcohol. Smooth taste, chocolate first, then roast, moderate alcohol. Nice, but not as rich as the top tier imperial stouts.

With chocolate cheesecake at Beer Bistro, Toronto, October 2007; retired bottle from 05. Has similarities to their Black Irish Porter, especially in its surprising wateriness. Still this one is much, much better, especially the complex aroma of dried fruit (prune, raisin). Wonderful coffee and fruit flavour.

Black w/ frothy ring of brown foam. Aroma of burnt(-in-a-good-way) coffee, dark chocolate, & earthy, herbal hops w/ notes of dried fruit. Thick, chewy, creamy feel. Rich, complex flavour of roasted malts w/ some nicely bitter, earthy hops in the finish.