UPDATED: DEC 30, 2021 Robe noire, mousse beige sombre, bof, disque irrégulier. Nez vineux, café froid, et fruit cuit (un peu dominé par le reste). Attaque : on perçoit un peu l'alcool, côté sirupeux léger, mais surtout vineux, grosse amertume qui équilibre l'alcool et le corps. Amertume présente, aussi bien du houblon que du malt rôti, qui prend la bouche. Très long, très riche, costaud, et mine de rien assez subtil. Le côté vineux domine, mais l'amertume est bien là. Arômes floraux du houblon qui se mêlent au caramel rôti. Pas mal.

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2021 355ml bottle brewed in Michigan at 11.2%. Rich dark ruddy brown, near enough opaque, with a good size and duration beige head. Wonderful thick, sticky aroma, lozenge-esque boozy cherries and raisins and even bitter leafy raspberry layered atop stodgy cake malts. Founders sure know how to make a beer smell special if nothing else. Modest carbonation, decent body with a long drying herbal finish. Some strong initial sweet and sticky toffee, a little chocolate raisin and plum, but even more potent is the lengthy evolving bitter herbal and tannic, almost menthol complexities in the second half and the prolonged aftertaste. The classic British Barley Wine with modern American hopping levels is quite something, but may well be 'beer Marmite' in that its attack on the palate is pointed, almost strident. You really have to be buying what this beer is selling to make the most of it - but for those who have been waiting for the cure to 'pudding-in-a-glass' syndrome among strong dark craft beer, this is it.

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2021 Bottle thanks to Santa. Pours a dark brown hue with a small white head. A big sweet boozy nose. Huge sweet malts, boozy, dark fruit, mild oxidation, cherry, caramel. I enjoy this, I remember how controversial the original was.

UPDATED: DEC 17, 2021 Draft at Toronado. Dark mahogany with a small beige head. Aroma is roasty, caramel, menthol, dark fruits. Flavor is roasty, earthy, anise, menthol, medium sweet, medium bitter. Full body. Mehhhh

UPDATED: DEC 16, 2021 Ampolla Hopt. Color marró molt fosc quasi opac, espuma beige amb correcta retenció. Fruita madura, caramel, licorosa... Bona barley tot i que l alcohol té una presència punt excessiva

UPDATED: DEC 15, 2021 Deep dark brownish black hue with a foamy light khaki head. Nice nose that’s gently dark fruity with some spiced woods and a Kirk’s boozy toasty malt. Flavor is earthy and slightly acrid bitter with some Barrel and malty nuances. A bit two dimensional and not a whole lot going on.

UPDATED: DEC 5, 2021 Flaska. Mörkbrun med ett beige skum. Dofter av karamell, läder, rostad malt och choklad. Smakinslag av karamell, nöt, mörka bär, läder, mörk sirap och trä. Fyllig kropp. Oljig munkänsla. Alkoholen döljs väl.

UPDATED: DEC 3, 2021 355 ml. bottle @ home, served in a teku glass, bottled at: 2021/05/09, best before: unknown. Aroma: medium intensity aromas of liquor, malts, toasted and caramel malts, dark dried fruits, dates, prunes, alcohol. Appearance: dark brown to mahogany color with beige to light brown foam color, high to very high head thickness, foam made of very small bubbles which grow very slowly over time to become small sized ones, high to very high Brussels' lacing, extremely high retention, too dark to talk about haziness. Taste: medium to high sweetness, low to medium bitterness, no sourness. Flavors of toasted and caramel malts, roasted malts, dark dried fruits, dates, prunes, raisins, caramel, burnt caramel, brown sugar, burnt brown sugar, alcohol. Balance is toward the sweetness but it is not cloying or unpleasant and it is less sweet than most of other barley wines. Mouthfeel: full body, silky to slightly watery texture, low carbonation, long sweet finish with medium to high sweetness and the previously mentioned flavors. Alcohol is slightly noticeable in the aroma and flavor but extremely well hidden, it seems imposible this beer has the high ABV read in the label. Astringency is not noticeable. Acidity from the black malts is barely noticeable. Hop burn is not noticeable. Overall: good appearance, quite complex aromas and flavors of toasted, roasted and caramel malts, dark dried fruits, dates, prunes, raisins, hints of alcohol. Not my favorite style but it is well brewed and much better than most of other barley wines. Too much ABV, it would be better with less ABV.

UPDATED: NOV 26, 2021 Bottle, thanks Finn! Dark brown, claret. Light sugary melanoidin roast nose. Medium full sweet body, mellow mouthfeel. Light wood booze, metallic smoke, pastry aftertaste.

UPDATED: NOV 26, 2021 Bottle. Dark brown color with beige head. Aroma is roasty, chocolate, not too much flavour there, and too dark for a Barleywine for my taste. Taste is the same, a bit bitter in the back. Not the most impressive of Founders beers.