Well, that's a nice beer, Avery. The label says bottled in 2007 and at 9.46% (also according to the label) it not only has held up well, it is displaying fine form. Rich and mellowed yet still a big bomb.

It pours that beery mahogany we all like so well and sits under a rich thick lace leaving mocha cream head. On the nose there is orange and molasses, pumpernickel and a little bitter herb. In the mouth there is a lot of residual deep sweet malt giving a range of dried fruit, black strap, dark chocolate and dark breads including the crusty edge from some graininess and the hops. Plummy like a Belgian dark strong - spiced with nutmeg, too. Then, at the end the boozy heat is over bitten by a seam of sharp green hop acid that incisively resolves all that malt. I want a smoky pork sandwich on heavy bread. But you could as easily have it with maple planked salmon. Or muktuk. Maybe.

You could convince a lot of people of the virtues of craft beer over a bottle of this. A room over a firkin. That would be a good room. Plenty of BAer love.