Emerge
Claim 52 Brewing

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a fine, one finger khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted and biscuit malt, graham cracker, dates, raisins, light bourbon and some dried plum. Flavor is dry biscuit malt with some light toasting, dates, milk chocolate, bourbon and plums. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Although the can tried to get me to drink this fresh, I disobeyed; it's been properly cellered for year and I have no regrets. This tastes exactly as I'd hope a blended barleywine and stout would. The barleywine component tastes much more like a biscuit malt English barleywine to me, a less common profile than the plum fruit usually encountered. This meshed well with the stout used, with the latter taking the back seat, but adding some nice toasted malt notes. The bourbon is mellow, but adds some plummy character. Not sure if the year of rest or not, but this is beautifully integrated and pleasant to drink. My only regret is that by waiting a year, I did not have a chance to pick up more of these. If it shows up here again, I'll definitely get more. Excellent. Not sure why it is scoring so modestly here. Maybe the biscuit malt style barleywines are not that popular.