A very, very interesting beer to say the least, but in the final analysis a bit too much all the way around.
Nicely presented, black waxed 750 mL bottle. Seemed to be doble-dipped on the wax which made it a pain to get into. Capped underneath.
Pour is a very dark brown affair with one of the most interesting head colors that i have ever seen. It was almost a fluorescent yellow/gold/orange color, and was made up of large bubbles at the edge of the beer. Very odd looking.
The nose and tastes are VERY complex with layer after layer of sweet, molasses based sugars that do not let up. It’s a very sweet beer with plenty of alcohol and brown sugar based complexity. Some dark fruits as well, but the beer is certainly never “fruity” by any stretch of the imagination. Alcohol builds and the obvious lack of carbonation (consider ABV and style), alhough appropriate , does begin to grate a little toward the middle of the vbottle.
I used a couple of glasses to marinate some salmon on the grill, and this was a good decision for two reasons. Firstly it provided a delicious , rich coating to the fish and secondly it allowed me to back away from the WHOLE bottle! It was beginning to creep up on me a bit.
Mouthfeel is excellent and smooth without ever getting overbearing and the beer (obviously) improves with temperature as the bottle is consumed.
A beer than one could really use to replace a nice liquor with, and the sweetness began to take the beer from Old Ale into the English Barleywine designation.
Very interesting and a beer that i’d like to try again in different circumstances.