King & Barnes Millennium Ale
Badger Brewery, Hall and Woodhouse

 

 

 

Large, boxed bottle into a Weyerbacher tulip. Thanks to JAHMUR for sharing this aged oddity.

A: Clear mahogany body, no carbonation. Expected.

S: Wow. Sherry, toffee, licorice, molasses, maple, grape, mustiness, and oak. Incredibly rich, old, and amazing. Oxidation gone beautifully right.

T: Musty up front, with toffee, earth, and major sherry following. Delicious, but a little overly musty compared to the incredible nose.

M: Flat, obviously, but with nice heft and moderate stickiness.

O: I love it when a weird old beer turns out to be fantastic. I'm sure some bottles of this are awful, but this one was a treat.

Cheers!

 

 

Bottle 3 of 5 cellared. Poured into a snifter.

Pours a murky ruby brown with no head what-so-ever.

Aromas of sweet malt and sherry. No hops to speak of. Hint of licorise. Some might call this soy sauce aroma, but I sense more of a malt sweetness with sherry/oxidation notes and the licorise.

First sip is of sherry, licorise, lots of oxidized malt flavors. No hop flavor at all. Tends toward the sweet side, but not cloyingly so. This has not held up to what I remember from my first bottle in 2000/2001. Not where I thought it would go. Finish is toward the licorise.

Mouthfeel is thin, a bit watery. A bit one dimensional. Did not age well.

Drinkability is low. I may have to soldier through this to finish the 640 ml bottle.

Wah. Should've sampled thisun sooner. Poured with zero head. Color is a cloudy medium brown. Aroma is an aromatic blend of caramel, toffee, dark ripe fruit, molasses, malt. Flavor is the same with a little bittersweetness standing out. Body is hampered by the lack of carbonation. Finish isn't too bad and similar to the flavor with the bittersweetness giving way to a slight sweetness.