Shenandoah Millennium Ale

This bottle had some years on it, man did it look beat up. Purple pour with a faint white head. Aroma is very floral, strong dark fruity sweetness. flavor is very sweet a big caramel punch to the face, figs and other dark fruits are intense. Licorice and a fruitcake taste come out as it warms. Some bourbon to it and just a nasty fruitiness with a bt of rubbing alcohol in the finish. Mouthfeel is very thin actually and carbonation seems faded. It’s actually very complex it just isn’t agreeing with me.

Pours a brown color, the head instantly fizzles down to absolutely nothing. Very flat looking beer. Sour, winey, very strong aroma. Quite fruity, tangy and tart with a definite alcoholic presence to it. Some malts and caramel notes in the background. Defnitely a unique brew

Sampled bottle version 04/06/2008. An innovative take on a traditional Finnish Sahti. This barleywine pours a bit thinner than others, but the flavor is thick and malty with a strong juniper and piny presence. Aroma had a slight bourbon note (cask conditioned?) and a peppery spice to it. Delicious, but it was difficult to down the whole pint. Definitely a sipping beer. Only real flaw was the lack of any head at all. Still, there was some light carbonation throughout.

Pours amber red; very clear, with a bubbly skirt of white. Syrupy aroma of honey, bubblegum, and toffee; some banana cream, juniper, candy sugar. Very sweet and burly; slightly cloying. Flavors are weighty. Honey, venison, smoke, tobacco, resin, and alcohol. Balance is tilted toward a sort of burlesque pistachio sweetness layered underneath with a firm outdoorsy bitterness that can’t assert itself quite enough. Black pepper dries a very quick mid palate, leading to syrupy rum like sweetness toward the finish; some vinegary cayenne, lots of maple syrup, and candy sugar in a slightly awkward befalling of sweetness and heat. Juniper tends to lend a bitter, herbal dryness throughout, but is overpowered in flavor; palate is full bodied, medicinal, and lightly spritzy. More vanilla infused rum in a long, warm, and meaty finish. A hugely sweet and mostly unlikeable syrup; it’s probably more the goal than the craft that’s off putting. Thanks Ken!

Bottle shared by puzzl: Pours copper/amber with a fading head. Sweet/hot aroma. Lots of banana and bubblegum notes. Very sweet flavor as well. Slick body with lots of alcohol warmth and sweet fruits like fig and banana. A bit too hot and sweet; perhaps time will help it?