Say NO! To Rugs
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

Bomber purchased at the brewery back in early Nov 2016, and kept in the cellar for the 3-4 months since. Served without any chilling.

Pours a clear brick reddish-amber colour, generating a full inch of soapy, bubbly head that shares the same yellowed hue as smoker's teeth. By the five minute mark it has mostly eroded to a smooth, creamy mat about a half-cm thick, surrounded by a foamy, sticky collar that creates a small amount of lacing. Boozy-sweet is the most succinct way of describing the aroma - but if pressed for more detail I suppose I'd say caramel and brown sugar, with dates, cherry and stewed plums, as well as a vaguely amaretto-ish nuttiness. Oh, and ethanol fumes - this one smells like it'll put hair on your chest, at least, if not on your head.

Fortunately, the alcohol is somewhat more well-integrated with regards to the flavour profile than it is on the nose - though still easily noticeable. More of the same caramelized malt, brown sugar, fruitcake-y sweetness is featured on the front end; dates and plums still come to mind, with suggestions of fig and raisin bread. It finishes with an earthy, herbal, almost spicy hop bitterness that is quickly outdone by the saccharine, boozy flavours of the aftertaste, which linger on well beyond each sip, numbing the tongue over time. Medium in body, with low carbonation levels that are barely detectable on the surface of the palate - or maybe that's just the alcohol dulling the receptors. A dangerous beer, but not in the sneaky way - it makes no attempt to hide what you're getting in to.

Final Grade: 3.67, a B grade. I must admit, I liked Say NO! To Rugs significantly more than I expected to. Barleywine has always been a hard sell for me - especially the English-style variants, which (unlike the American ones) can't usually requisition a burlap sack full of hops in order to blunt or mask the inevitable burn. Yet this is one that I don't mind drinking, and I also find to be a respectable representation of this style. I haven't had Brooklyn's Monster Ale in years now, and didn't exactly love it at the time, but honestly this kind of reminds me a lot of that. I can finish this off myself, but you'd be better off splitting it with a friend or two, to avoid tiring the palate... or angering your liver.