Hand-bottled courtesy Ty5592! Pours opaque black with a thin but dense tan head. Aroma of dark chocolate, prunes, brown sugar. Creamy and viscous full body and minimal carbonation. Taste of chocolate. licorice and pine. Bitter chocolate and espresso finish.

750, capped and foiled. Thanks, Riverside! Jet black. Dense, creamy, moussy burnt tan head. Big coffee and chocolate nose. Pruney and plummy and smokey. Creamy medium body. Not at all thick, at least not overly so in any way. Meaty, smokey, chocolatey, coffeeish--lots of disparate notes chiming simultaneous, but all very harmonious and cohesive in their presentation. Long bitter smoke and coffee finish. Tons of flavor and personality, but no one thing is anywhere near too forward. Really a triumph.

<i>Bottled, thanks Marsblursi!</i> Realy black, dense beige creamy head. Yeasty chocolatey aroma. Medium sweet with chocolate sauce covering licorice. Salty and near full bodied with rounded grainy mouthfeel. Finishes with concentrated licorice and lingering sweetness.

(Bottle thanks to Maxxdaddy) Pours black with a dark creamy head. The aroma has a fantastic, deep roasty and burned malt profile of dark bread/pumpernickel, creamy dark chocolate/cocoa, blackberries, black currant, fruits,violets, sweet caramel, liquorice root/anise, burned, smoked rubber, and aromatic espresso coffee alongside a sweet vanilla note. Light vinous and yeasty with tones of earth, dough, black cherries, and very subtle raspberry and currant notes. A touch of hops. I really like serious maltiness in the aroma. The flavour is medium to heavily roasted and light to medium burned with tones of dark, juicy bread, blackberries, dark chocolate and coffee, salty liquorice, light smoke, and burned liquorice. The mouthfeel is fat, round a light oily with a medium carbonation and chewable profile. Aftertaste of burned coffee-like and light caramelly malt, light to medium hop citric bitter. Near full-bodied.

2008 Bottle/Vintage Pours a very nice thick black color, nice carbonation, nice one finger creamy tan head, with some islands and sticky lacing. The nose is big and malty, very nice touch of coffee/toffee/chocolate, vanilla, nice note of roastyness, with some caramel. The taste if very nice, malty, with some sweetness, very nice tones of the big three. Full-Medium body, the alcohol is hidden very well. Very drinkable, what can I say another awesome brew from Southampton, thanks Steve.