Good color, nice healthy taupe head. Nose is eye opening. Botanical hops invade the olfactories followed by a malty/bready grain and dark sugar. A little boozey but this adds to the power. Firm body begins on the palate with citrusy hops and warm pudding, the sort with caramel. Cleanesing the lot comes in the way of drying hop spice and scrubbing bubbles that give heighth to the girth. Outstanding beer. Certainly gets points for price and ageworthiness. With time the booze should mellow and that delecious malt backbone will show it’s complexity.

Pours a dark brown, amber when held to a light. Low carbonation with a lasting khaki colored ring of head. Tastes of toffee with a pleasant amount of hops to finish it out.

Deep amber red color with thin white head. Strong hoppy and malty aroma. Sweet candy maltiness followed by Intense piney hopiness. Alcohol is well masked.

A 22oz bottle of San Diego Barleywine, I hope its good. This one has a decent head on it and a dark reddish brown body. The taste is slightly fruity, alcoholic, and delicious. As it warms up, it begins to smell a little like caramel (and maybe chocolate), which is nice. I can definitely taste the hops in this. I also taste a faint hint of chocolate. The first glass went a little too fast but it just keeps getting better the more it warms up. The alcohol will catch up with you if you aren’t careful. Maybe you are smart enough to share this bottle with a friend, but I wasn’t. I was a little afraid after my experience with the Imperial IPA but this one was well worth the purchase price. I am definitely buying more to see what another six months to a year will do. -update 11/14/07 2006 vintage So I decided to crack one of these since it is almost been a year since I purchased these bottles. The first smell is perfume and hops, weird and reminds me of an aged Ruffian I had a couple weeks ago. The flavors are like a bitter orange rind. The more I think about it this beer seems like a Ruffian copycat and it would be interesting to have a blind taste-off. This is different than it was fresh and I am not sure i like it aged. I still have five more bottles so maybe this one will improve in the next year or so. -05/03/08 2006 vintage Dark, ruby red, almost brown, with a thin but soap-like head. Subtle smells of citrus and toffee, chocolates, a little alcohol. More citrus in the flavor followed by a cereal-like barley flavor and flowery notes with a little bitterness. The only complaint I have is that it gets too easy to drink as it warms. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 02-16-2007 01:16:11

22 oz bottle dated 2008 poured into a snifter has a brown amber color and a thin off white head. aroma has dark malt, brown sugar, big pine hops, citrus. mouth feel is medium with a nice fullness and light carbonation. flavor is extremely smooth, great malted base with hops layer on top that erase any alcohol. juicy grapefruit and citrus come across but the malt is right behind it. as it warmed it became more chewy and bitterness picked up. very enjoyable with a nice fresh green taste.