March 23, 2008 -- Tasting just as great as the original... maybe some higher fruit aspects in the taste with a bit better balance than before that results in a slighly bubblegum flavor while not being so at all (if that makes any sense). Aroma now adds a bit of chocolate that makes it perfect. Ending is absolutly amazing... I couldn’t ask for a better beer.
---------- 8/8/06
Huge thanks to TheBeerCeller2 for bringing this awesome beer to Richmond for us, and to Crawford Moran for brewing it and supplying it to him. Beautiful ruby-brown body with a nice creamy off-white head. Excellent aroma, cheddar, sweet fruit. Great taste, raspberry, cherry, hops and maybe some light toffee. Great ending, sweet and perfect for a Barley Wine. Utterly amazing stuff. 9/5/9/5/18 = 4.6

NorCal tasting June ’07 - It had been awhile since I had a barleywine of this caliber, so this was a real treat. An excellent aroma of caramel, cedar, vanilla, bourbon, and apples. Appearance was like melted caramel with a small off-white head. Mouthfeel was sticky, chewey and oh so nice. Flavor was just a complex blast of flavors to rush from your tongue to your brain. Caramel, apples, brown sugar, light oxidation, vanilla, and creme brullee, which mingles all together incredibly well. Easily one of my favorite b-wines ever. Outstanding.

Another from TheBeerCellar2: Deep mahogony color with a quickly diminishing tan head. Nice nose--a touch of oxidation at first quickly dissipates, giving way to sweet, vinous notes, toffee, carob, and walnuts. Exquisitely creamy mouthfeel. Quite sweet, with a lot of dry almond notes, reasonably bitter, some alcohol hints, a touch of red wine. Fantastic, on a par with vintage Lees Harvest or Thos. Hardy’s ales.

Sampled August 2007
Quite rich smelling, clearly starting to age a bit, but it does not seem to be detrimental yet. The hazy, concentrated amber colored beer is topped by an initially, fat, one-finger thick, tan colored head. Aromatic notes of concentrated fruitiness (raisins & prunes), herbaceous & fruity hops (both citrus notes and a berry character) as well as aged malt notes of sherry, caramelized malt and significant brown sugar are all quite noticeable here. Some light oxidation notes have added a complex, almost meaty (really more umami like than meat like) quality to the aroma that really integrates quite well and makes this all that more complex. This still has a fairly vibrant malt and hop character to it; the age has muted these notes for sure, but not yet suppressed them and it has added other layered aromatics to the nose.

Creamy feeling as it hits my mouth, the carbonation is fairly light, but still adds a touch of a prickly sensation to the tongue. The oxidation / aged notes are not quite as present as in the aroma, and they certainly were not dominant there, but they do adds some dustiness to the malt character, a touch of sherry and it definitely seems to amplify fruity notes of prunes and raisins (all of these notes are more noticeable towards or even well into the finish). The hop character still has a vibrant edge to it (this must have been quite hoppy when fresh, because it is still quite hoppy); notes of candied grapefruit, orange zest, tangelo, a backdrop of menthol and pine as well as a solid, yet in no way dominating bitterness. Thick and chewy without being sticky; this is definitely a sipping brew as the malt and hop character demand that you savor each sip.

This beer might be at its peak right now; ample fresh hop and malt notes are still quite noticeable, but these are tempered by an almost perfect amount of age and oxidation that is not yet dominating the flavor profile, instead it is accentuating & adding to the complexity of this brew. This is one of those beers that seems to grow on me; dissecting the flavor components and aged components is such an enjoyable task that this beer only get better with each sip. It is surprising at times how well integrated and how much the aged / oxidation character add to this brew; with the big caveat that I have not had this beer when it was fresh, I think that this really might be peaking right now. This reminds me a lot of the balance, if not necessarily the specific flavors, of that magical time for every vintage of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot when it is between 2 and 4 years of age. This ends up being so tasty, such a consummate sipping brew, I can’t help but thoroughly enjoy this brew. My enjoyment of this is certainly a bit situational, but regardless this is one impressive brew. I see that the early ratings state that this was sort of an English balanced Barley wine, if this is true then watch out, because this might still improve for another 10 years

GIGANTIC thanks to an anonymous benefactor for this. Pours turbid deep copper/ruby with medium head and big lacing. Aroma of malt, hops, dark fruit (cherries, berries). Tastes fruity, malty, with finishing sweetness and a full-bodied complexity that lingers pleasantly down the anterior papillae to the upper esophageal space. Fabulous beer, and I don’t know how my benefactor got this, but I made a shrine to him in my basement. Why the fuck did these guys have to fold? What the fuck is going on? We have dozens of shitty movies and TV shows every year, mediocre baseball players make multiple millions per year, yet good beer like this is no longer made. Something is very screwed up there. When I hit the lottery, I’m going to make sure that good beer like this NEVER, EVER, goes by the wayside A-GAIN!!