Trafalgar Critical Mass

I’m in the minority on this one, but I liked it a lot. 7 oz nip bottle purchase at Volo. Deep brown beer, no head. Very sweet and slightly oxidized malt aroma. Brown sugar, molasses, rum and raisins. Sweet toast and toffee along with a light maple character as well. The flavour is very sweet showing brown sugar, toasted almonds, marzipan, black pepper, rum and a touch of apricot brandy. Cooling mintiness on the back of the palate. An elegant and complex brew.

Bottle. Pours brown with fizzy short lived fine head. Aroma mainly of brown sugar, light hint of spice (anise) and dry alcohol. Brow malts shallow body and dry alcoholic finish. Felt as if it was artificially strengthened. So much alcohol but so little body makes you wonder how it was done.

(200ml bottle) Courtesy of Lubiere. Very similar to the Korruptor but a lighter, more cherry and fig nose. Headless with a deep reddish body. Flavours of strong prunes, mild cough syrup and a lingering ABV burn. Very enjoyable like the other. I wish they’d just say this is a barleywine, bottle it and forget upsetting people at the festivals.

A dark brown ale with almost no head or carbonation. Aroma of burned caramel, aniseed, stewed prunes and strong alcohol. In mouth, a sweet licorice malt with candy sugar and warming alcohol, star anise, warming and pleasant. You either like it or you dont. I liked it. Bottle from ProbstK.

Bottle (200ml, clear). At Volo. For once I don’t think the clear bottle hurts - this is BOOZY. Poured deep clear chestnut brown - if it had any head at all, I’d give it a 4. Hot alcohol aroma, so much so I kept putting it down and going back to it - evenutally I got prune and a vague root beer or cola-like roastiness - no yeast or hop character whatsoever. The taste was very much like a slightly watered-down home-made sherry or port, boozy and loaded with lots of tart fruit, maybe a hint of molasses-like malt - this desperately wants to be a harvest ale, but completely lacks any wood, yeast or hop character - it’s sticky, sweet and incredibly boozy all the way through to the end of the long finish - and I hate to say it, but I really doubt aging will do anything to mellow this, there just isn’t anything other than booze to emerge. Thick and syrupy, it has a little lively zing on the tongue, yet it seems in no way at all carbonated. Really nice to see an Ontario micro brewer try new things, well done for the effort, but it needs more character than just 14% alcohol.