UPDATED: MAY 20, 2021 Bomber, 2012 vintage. Dark fruit aroma with notes of caramel, toffee, brown sugar, cocoa and booze. Pours deep caramel brown with a thin tan head that has good retention and lacing. Starts with dark fruit, brown sugar and cocoa flavors as well as having a rich, full body and smooth mouthfeel. Finishes smooth with caramel and toffee flavors as well as nice warming booze at the very end. Nice strong ale that hides the huge abv pretty well.

UPDATED: SEP 19, 2020 (650ml bottle from the LCBO ca 2013, their lab test sticker says 14.5%) Pours slightly murky dark cola brown with a small cream head. Notes of dark burnt caramel, toffee, light molasses, sweet bread, some chocolate, soft umami and oxidated nutty vibes from the age, spirit-soaked raisins, quite sweet through the middle of the sip before drying with toasty grains and some piney bittering hops and alcohol warmth. Medium-plus body despite hte age with fairly soft carbonation. An older bottle for sure but tough to tell whether it was at the end of its life or finally tamed into drinkability but either way it was a solid warmer.

UPDATED: OCT 7, 2019 Bottle shared in London - cheers to MadMitch! Pours deep brown with a creamy, beige head. Strong oxidation present, lots of rich dark malts, ash, burnt caramel. Full bodied, oily, with fine carbonation. Hot finish, lots more charred malts, toffee. A little scattered and knackered but novel in its way.

Bottle shared at the columbus tasting 31/07/2019. Many thanks! A clear dark brown coloured pour with a loose tan head. Aroma is sweet, soy, roast, hot alchol, woody, some jammy fruits. Flavour is composed of semi sweet, sweaty dog, salty, roast, jammy strawbeerry, vanilla, oak, hot alchol, solvent, brown sugars. Rough round the edges. Paalte is medium sweet, hot alcohol, sticky, rough.

31Jul2019 Sweet, dark malts, oak, dried, dark fruits, chocolate, cacao. Hazy, very dark brown, no head. Light bitter. More dark roast malts, cacao, burnt toast, dark chocolate, soft carbonation, full bodied. Nice. Bottle at L6 Tasting - thanks to madmitch76!

UPDATED: AUG 4, 2019 31st July 2019
Level 6 Bottleshare. Opaque dark brown beer, decent tan head. Smooth and slightly soft palate, reasonable fine carbonation. Soft creamy dark malts. Slightly tangy and bitter coffee. Tangy dark fruits. Mild spice. Soft but rich bourbon soaked dark fruits. Spicy twangy bitter finish. Despite its age, this is a somewhat inelegant beer. Tasty but clunky. Bit of a disappointment.

Black pour with tan head and lace. Aroma is chocolate and dark fruit. Flavor is sweet chocoffee and dried dates or raisins. Yahooish except fuller

22oz bottle shared by stevo during totality on Solar Eclipse Day. Tight foamy lt brown-black. A-licorice/molasses, dk fruit, some boozy. T-follows, nice.

Small sticker on bottle says 14.5%, and not 16% that’s on the actual bottle. Poured a very large amount of mocha coloured head and has a pitch black appearance. The alcohol is immediately apparent in the smell. Has toasty and nutty malt aromas and notes of vanilla and barley. Flavours are dark roasted malts, strong coffee dark roast, sweets, toffee. Alcohol is very much in your face. Very strong and bitter mouthfeel, and has a warming sensation. Almost feels like having whisky. Lively carbonation. For having so many hop and malt varieties, kind of hard to distinguish them all. Has nice flavours but very high abv and it shows.

Deep very dark brown coloured body with a large, oil slick on top, showing a touch of lighter brown head, but this is pretty much all about the oil on top and the opaque depth of deep dark brown body. Aroma of alcohol (surprise), honey, maple syrup, birch, rich malt, toffee, caramel, earth, yeast and a heavy dose of anise and deep spices. Full-bodied; Super deep and pungent malt character with a large alcohol presence (of course), tons of sweetness from the maple syrup and honey tastes and a deep soy sauce and meaty character at the end with bunches of flavours, some not showing a lot of typical beer flavours. Aftertaste shows quite a bit of bitterness from the malt, alcohol, spices, yeast and earthy sweetness, but some nice, yet pungent flavours and moderate complexity, despite the tons of alcohol around. Overall, a very pungent (as expected) beer, but showing some nice almost barley wine mixed with imperial stout or old ale flavours, showing a ton of sweetness, a good malt base and a rich alcohol bite that shows fairly well despite the high content and still easy-enough to drink for this beer, but perhaps that has something to do with the age! Good to try, if you can find it and hold onto it for a while, but I’m guessing either you cannot find it now at all or if you DO have it, it’s already fairly old! I sampled this twelve ounce (I could not drink any more than 355 mL!) bottle purchased from Ramsay Liqours in Ramsay, New Jersey on 22-February-2013 for an unknown amount of money, sampled at home in Washington on 22-April-2017, a full four+ years later after purchasing.