Time Before
Alma Mader Brewing

Pours black with no foam formation. It sits heavy and still in the glass. Oily rings form decent legs on the glass after a swirl.

Aroma is a beautiful blend of semi-sweet and semi-bitter notes, pairing dark fruits, molasses, toffee, and brown sugar with mild spice, leather, and char and barrel. Booze shows up underneath, but in an understate way, creating a smooth rise of heat that solders off some of the initial sweetness from lingering. Well balanced on the nose.

Flavor profile brings that same marriage of sweet vs. bitter. Dark fruits show up first again, this time paired with immediate spice. Caramel, toffee, and molasses layer over and between leather, and faint grassy and resiny hops. Barrel shows up halfway through. As a whole, it's well blended. It has a bit of an opposite formation to a 'mullet', with bold notes jumping out at the start, and thinning out towards the back.

Mouth feel is thick with a consistent, smoothered fuzzy texture. Very low-key.

Overall, great. Perhaps a little weak on the backend compared to the heaviness of the start, but otherwise some great notes throughout. A big, boozy beer that departs from the typical stout or barleywine profile.

Served in a tulip glass from a 500mL bottle. Reviewed from notes.