Firestone Walker Abacus

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Had as Sucaba ("Abacus" backwards). Pours barely translucent chocolate with a thin pale buff head. Aroma offers chocolate, roast malt and caramel tones. Flavor echoes the aroma with stronger notes. Mouthfeel features firm body and peppy fizz. Sucaba one down.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

Sampled with good frineds - 2013 Version - "Sucaba". Deep brown lightly murky pour with little head nor lacing. Deep and rich ripe dark pitted fruits, tobacco, smoke, but mostly Bourbon. Helluva beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Another SUPER kind trade from Slowrunner77 - MANY THANKS! I split this 4-ways during guys week in OCMD2015. This beer was great and it probably gets marks too low from me, but that is likely because barleywines are not my favorite style. That being said, this one is top flight and I know it is a work of art. Sweet malty flavors, figs, and other dark fruit. The beer is full weight and is more like a fine scotch. Hops are ever present, bourbon barreling did wonders to this beer. Many thanks - fantastic beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

On tap at Tribes Alehouse. Pours light brown color with a small tan head in a snifter. Caramel, chocolate, vanilla, dark fruit, wood and bourbon on the nose and the tongue. Very complex! An amazing balance of aromas and flavors. Came very cold and was forced to wrapped my hands around it to warm it up a bit. One of the best beers I have yet to taste. Unfortunately, I got the last pour from the tap. Very pricey and worth every penny. Fantastic! A must try.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Well, I will have some more of that. The smell is like straight vanilla extract, sharp alcohol and intense vanilla. Unfortunately is pours like a light brown coke, but that is the only thing against it. The mouthfeel is like velvet, can't think of anything that has been more impressive. The flavors that come out are pretty amazing, sort of belgian strong, sort of barleywine, and lots of bourbon barrel.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

One of the problems with the craft beer revolution is that beer is becoming hard liquor instead of beer, and it is killing beer for me. I heard a lot of good things about this beer but I want a beer, not bourbon, and there is too much of a bourbon character in this.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

This beer is incredible. I cellared it for about a year and I don't have a before and after analysis to offer, but it has certainly proven worth the wait. Sweet molasses, whiskey, and wood are strong in the aroma. Flavor is complex with hints of nearly any malty attribute you can imagine; notable are vanilla, oak, bourbon raison, tobacco, and hints of chocolate. It's like grape nuts on steroids: hearty, rich, delicious. Full bodied with gentle carbonation and subtle warming. I wish I had another bottle stashed away.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

22oz bottle -

This is just insane how great this beer is on nearly every level. The intense amount of flavor depth combined with the olfactory input is really something to appreciate and admire. Waves of rich, butter-toffee, vanilla, wood, chocolate, thick caramel syrup, and coconut cake batter fill the nose with just a light twinge of alcohol showing up. Stunning.

The complexity on this is just mind blowing. It reminded me in a lot of ways of Apis Póltorak Jadwiga, with it's multiple layers of flavors, each meshing with each other in an orchestra of wonderful flavors. Bounding flavors of bourbon, oak, vanillin, brown sugar, caramel, chocolate, butter-scotch, leather, and Captain Black pipe tobacco. There are very few beers as defining to a category as this is to the barleywine style. It's simply, simply amazing.