Very nice. Pours a bit thin for the ABV, or maybe I am used to a little underattenuation for the style, but an imposing black color with no head. Aroma is deep candied fig, coffee, port. Taste follows suit with more coffee, some alcohol. Dense, creamy. Very, very nice. 06 version ---- re-rate----

’06 Version. Pours a very dark brown in color. There’s a short lived frothy ring of head around the perimeter of the glass. Very subdued bourbon in the nose. Good to see that the bourbon is not dominating. Still some good roasty coffee notes coming through. There’s much more coffee coming through in the taste. So much in fact that it’s dominating the bourbon barrel aging effects. I expected just the opposite. Also was a bit thinner in the mouthfeel than I was expecting. Ends up being a bit more balanced than I was expecting. Not earth moving, but then again, don’t know if this had a chance to live up to the hype.

Huge thanks to Beerlando for sharing this one!!! Pours a nearly opaque ebony, with some burnt brown glinting from the depths. The aroma is is a melange of dark fruits, vanilla, roasted grains, French roasted coffee, absolutely spectacular. The flavor is more of the same, with the dark fruit notes seeming to come to the forefront. An absolute masterpiece.

Thanks to Beerlando! Rich coffee and chocolate notes, dark and roasty aromas. Pours black with a thin tan head. Dark fruits, raisons and sweet driend figs, with vanilla and molassses, with rich chocolatey flavors. A wonderful beer, such a treat!

Thanks Beerlando, sharing this was a treat! Pours jet-black with a bubbly chocolate milk colored head. The aromas of chocolate and alcohol are most prominent. The taste is amazingly complex. I felt like I just bit into the saxophone-playing California Raisin dipped in the finest swiss chocolate. The next sip, I get some grape flavors. The next, back to the Raisinets. A little thinner on the palate then I expected. Superb beer.