22, handbottle. Thanks, Kim! Wow, this is a rare gem to bring up from the vaults. Holy cow. Pours luminescent dark brownish amber with no head or lace. Big sour nose of rye bread and fresh sweet filterless cigarette tobacco. Dense, cloying, rich, creamy body, but not sweet in the flavor profile. Lovely enveloping stuff. Tobacco, leather, rye bread, and other sweet sandwich loaf go crazy here. The age gives it lovely softness and complexity and...hell, I wish we could still get this wonderful beer. I miss the high notes from Far West so much.

At Hard Liver 2006. Deep mahogany color. Roasted malty sweet nose. Very much a toasted grainy almost Imperial stout roasted malt flavor here with ripe plums, pit fruits. Not yuor average barleywine.

Draught @ Brouwer’s Café during Hard Liver 2006: Dark chocolate in color, nearly black, moderate foamy beige head, spotty lacing.   Rich bready character, malty, chewy, not very sweet, or should I say not as sweet as to counteract the rich breadiness.   Great body, fairly creamy mouthfeel.   Whole wheat grainy finish.   Wished this one to be a bit sweeter, otherwise its still enjoyable.

Tap at Hardliver. Deep brown to black colored beer with a slight ruby hue when backlit. Attractive light beige head with great lacing. Estery, a bit of pepper/spice in aroma. As time marches and the beer warms the nose becomes a bit medicinal reminding me of NyQuil. Sharp and drying rye presence in flavor, a bit of the medicinal notes also. Full bodied, rather smooth. Pretty nice but I can’t get over the NyQuil.

Dark brown. Minty, chocolatey....vast aroma with fudge, light nuts, and all sorts of herbs. Subtle but extremely complex. Sweet, smooth body with fudgey accents and light herbal notes. Late alcoholic kick. Flavour not as complex as the aroma.