From notes. Enjoyed in the company of Doug, Travis, Chris, Ryan, and Jake as part of an event we finally planned on November 15. 22 oz bottle. Thanks Ryan for this one man. Whoa. The pour is a nice dark ruby brown with a thin bit of light tan head and a couple spots of lace as it falls away. The aroma is pretty good. There is a light spicy chocolate on the front end that moves through a good maltiness and a bit of Belgian yeast. This is surprisingly complex for its age. The breadiness of the malt comes through a little more on the finish with a light oxidation. It’s not big, but it does balance well. The flavor is much of the same. The bready malts and a light spicy chocolate work well with a light yeast and a bit of oxidation. The small cardboard to this seems to balance this out well. I like this one. This is way better than I thought it would be. The mouth feel is a medium bodied and softly carbonated still with a great chocolate, spicy yeast on the finish. This one is something else, that’s for sure. Hot damn. 8 4 8 4 16

Multiple bottle samples over the years (one at the old Brassworks building where I still have an unopened bottle from, once at Jackie o’s with one of the owners of Founders, at home) from notes. Pours a slightly hazy amber/auburn color with a medium sized beige head. The aroma and flavor had sweet malts, caramel, dark fruit and berries, some earthy notes, herbal character, yeast, complex profile with the different yeast strains both showing up, definitely didn’t want to rate this years ago when I had it fresh because I didn’t feel like I had the vocabulary to describe this properly. I would like to try this once again.

Bottle: Thanks, Matt. Cloudy, ruddy copper and brown color with no real head, small beige collar. Aroma of caramel malt, stale hops, licorice, prune, some earth, a touch of cardboard. Flavor has lots of sweet, nutty hops, caramel, toffee cream, with overtones of earthy hops, light staleness, almonds, some nougat, and an alcohol finish. Medium-heavy mouth feel.

Pours thick unclear dark ruby amber with a sandy head. Aroma is sweet, a bit fruity, and contains big sweet malty barleywine notes. Flavor brings sweet lemony malty notes typical of a barleywine on a bigger body. It is not totally cutting on the palate, but still pretty big.

Bottle (2007) sampled 10/2013.

One of the problems with cellaring American beer is that even if it does improve with aging, it would have to improve enormously to keep up with the pace of brewing and distribution improvement that we’ve enjoyed over the past decade. (Full Sail Black Gold, I’m looking at you!) This one is probably suffering from the same problem -- it was doubtless quite a special beer in 2007 but in 2013 we’re spoiled with an overabundance of riches. It took me a while to open this one and I may have let it go past its prime but it seemed like a bit of a special occasion beer and there aren’t that many special occasions when I’m looking for a 13% ABV American ale. Tonight’s not a special occasion either, but I thought this would nicely complement last night’s Pike Old Bawdy Wine. Pours orange-brown with gold highlights and little head into my Samichlaus snifter. Straight-ahead aged (American) barleywine nose: toffee, orange, oxidized hops. Pretty hot even after all these years, warming down the back of my throat. I don’t pick up much in the way of the spices; the flavor more or less follows directly from the aroma: quite sweet, lots of toffee, oxidized hops, never really drying out in the close. It’s an In the end it’s a tasty beer but not a particularly special one -- at 13% it better knock my socks off and this one is just enjoyable.

Bottle @ home, thanks to arminjewell. Thanks Armin! Pours a deep orangish brown appearance with a thin brown head. Somewhat oxidized, a bit boozy, chewy belgian yeast, raisin/plum, somewhat woody, spicy aroma. Big toffee, chocolate, sweet malty, mild to moderate paper/cardboard, a touch fruity flavor. Lots of malt, somewhat oxidized but overall pretty good. I didn’t really get spices in the flavor. Aged pretty well.

Pour out of 750 mL bottle, thanks Markus! Thick dark brown pour with thin white head, aroma brought notes of lots of sherry, dark fruits, lots of caramel, toffee, burnt sugars, hints of oak, slight spice notes. Taste is a nice smooth mix of lots of sherry, brandy notes, some dark fruits, toffee, hints of oak, slight spice, hints of red fruits as well, finishing sweet, dry, and full. Pretty nice at this age.

Bomber. Poured rich, deeper plumy-brown with a short, dense beige head. The aroma picked up rich, fruity malts, caramel, and molasses with accents of black pepper and oxidation.. a hair over the hill, but solid. The flavor found tangy, slightly metallic notes throughout, with dark fruit and molasses at the core.. tangy fruit skins, oxidation, and peppery notes around.. finished tangy and warm. Medium-bodied and a bit too tangy on the palate.. overall it held up well, but it was probably better a few years ago.

Bottle at RBSG. Pours with an orange to brown hued body, with medium-low clarity and a small off-white head. Aromas are sweet, nearly cloying, spicy, medium phenol, earthy. Flavors are sweet, spicy and boozy. Medium strong bitterness, warming, earthy cedar like notes, spruce, brown sugar, cola. Medium carbonation and very warming.

26th February 2011
Cloudy brown beer. Small tan head. Mellow malty nose with some fruit and chocolate. Surprisingly light palate, semi dry. Sweet dried fruits and subtle pineapple cube sweets. Aniseed spice. Subtle and mellow chocolate. Sweet peach and apricot in the finish which is semi dry. Hides the 13.0% very well. Tasty and somewhat exotic beer!