Pale orange, almost peach colored pour, with a very attractive slightly orange tinted head that comes from the aggresive pour. Of course, the head is small and doesn’t last long, but that’s to be expected with the ABV.

Typical AMERICAN Barley Wine, and I increasingly feel, that when you get to this level of ABV it can start to get difficult (even for an excellent brewer like Stone) to start making distinguishing charateristics.

Lots of warming alcohol in the taste, you can feel it going down, but outside of that not a huge amount to distinguish it from lots of other good quality BW’s.

Yes, it’s an excellent example, but not a stunner. Good hop character that hangs well against the alcohol and the sweetness, in fact rather well balanced, but of course, it’s a sipper more than anything else.

Good, slightly oily, slick mouthfeel but drinkability is not huge, largely because of the the alcohol and the style.