Newport Storm 05

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 8

Rated in 2007. Sampled at the O-Town throwdown. Poured amber with almost no head. It has a fairly standard barleywine aroma with date, fig and plum like dark fruitiness. The flavor is really smooth with notes of plums, dates, cherries and hints of sweet malts. The taste ends almost velvety smooth. This beer is dangerously easy drinking.

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

Bottle courtesy of jjpm74: Poured a deep dirty brown color ale with a tiny head with minimal retention and no lacing. Aroma of deep caramel and toffee malt with some raspberry notes also noticeable. Taste is dominated by some sweet malt with some hint of raspberry and blackberry. Body is full and carbonation is very low but no alcohol was noticeable. Very well done and I observe some resemblance with Kuhnhenn Raspberry eisbock even though they are two very different beers.

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

NorCal tasting 07 - I really don't know how this beer was stored but I have to guess that it wasn't in the best of conditions. What seemed like it might have been really tasty a year ago, was now just a shell. An aroma of light fruits, some dark chocolate and carmael but it was just too toned down, almost watered down. Appearance was a cloudy, dark brown/amber in color with a small head. Flavor of sweet malts, light fruits, pepper, maple and light chocolate notes. Pretty average stuff. Nothing great.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured a dark brown color, slight ruby-amber hues when held to light. The head was thin and tan brown, fairly decent retention and lacing for such levels of ABV. The aroma was very pleasant, berries and cocoa. The flavor was complex and smooth, a wonderful blend of raspberries, balanced chocolate (not sweet or sickly thick and rich), and v. lightly hop/spiced bitter in the finish. Alcohol was rather subtle for such a concoction, although detectable. Mouthfeel was fantastic, very smooth, velvety, not too thick, nice. A very nice beer, much thanks to Cottrell for hooking me up with this one, not overdone or "extreme" as some brewers have done to beers like this.

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

Pours a very dark mahogany with a light thin tan head and minimal carbonation... despite a very loud pop as the cork came out. Tart raspberries jump out at you in the aroma, with a complex underlying of chocolate, molasses, smoke, and caramel. First sip brings loads of smooth velvety milk chocolate with bits of sweet and lightly tart raspberries. As it warms, it becomes incredibly sweet and complex, full of caramel, chocolate, and molasses. Tart raspberries pinch the sides of the tongue, before being overwhelmed by the thick chocolate and coffee accents. Not nearly as fruity as the aroma first indicated (good!). Mouthfeel is thick, smooth, almost oily and velvety. Quite simply, one of the best beers I've had, period.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

12.10.05 750ml bottle, RLB YEHA-05. The pour is a pale coffee brown, mostly still, minimal head. I see they’ve toned down the insanity and this year’s rendition is a paltry 11.7%. Good for them! Chocolate drenched in malty barley wine is what I smell, and to a degree what I taste. Sweetness runs rampant like Chinese take-out (geez, Dave, did we compare notes on this one?). Smooth and soft, but quite thinly bodied. More aromatic than flavorful. I liked it nonetheless, and I hope this is a sign of better Newport Storms to come!

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

Poured a dark amber color with a thin, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of raspberry, chocolate, smoke and light caramel malt. Taste was fruity, raspberry and cherries, more chocolate, and light alcohol as well.