Not sure if this is really “retired” but it recently turned up at Green’s in Atlanta, GA, USA. 1 Pt .9 floz.
Pour is dark, dark brown (almost black) with a creamy cappuccino like head. It doesn’t really leave a classic lace, more of a dense, coffee like cream foam on the side of the glass. Reminiscent of the inside of an Italian coffee cup.
Extremely creamy mouthfeel with a distinct (burned) chocolate feel. Sharp and very bitter finish. Bitterness lingers slightly. More stout-like than a Barley Wine (on the label), and certainly not any DIPA character as listed on the BA db. I would say this is more like an Imperial, American Double Stout or perhaps an “imperialized”, AMERICAN Brown Ale (American because of the bitterness and the hoppy factor).
Not really coffee-like in terms of the taste, but definitely has a coffee-like bitterness.
Interesting, but not really my cup of tea. It falls between the two areas of being malty/creamy and hoppy/bitter and doesn’t really pull either off properly. An odd hybrid in my book.