The strength of roast here is coming through, as well as a boozy burnt-sugar toffee overtone. Somewhat tart on the finish. Walks a line between mellow and over-the-top, and doesn't always straddle it.

Pine and resin, but a lot lighter-tasting in a nostalgic way than IPAs have trended toward in recent years. It's almost quaint.

Pungent, resinous, oily. Not my cup of tea.

This is an odd one - starts lightly piney and then, although there's no indication of why in the bill, very strongly resembles a chile beer. Not spicy, but with all the other bitter, fruity, vegetal flavors you'd get. Which is a huge win for me, honestly, I love it.

Vinous and dry opening but the watermelon comes out bright and juicy soon after. It’s interesting because I remember this being a lot more murky in its non-barrel-aged version.

Not bad - grape/apple/pine with a kind of resin sweetness that lingers. It does become a bit metallic and/or cloying by the end.

Sweet, definitely reminiscent of a Japanese lager but has a bit of a syrupy quality that lingers tackily on the tongue.

A generally-mild tasting IPA with a very pungent apricot/resin nose and finish. Definitely gives the impression of an oily aromatic layer coating the surface of the beer.

Really nice, actually! A touch of dried fruit, cinnamon, some herbal bitterness, but also a drinkable, light, porter at heart. I think I prefer this to the more naked spice character of the Festivus.

Woody and oily, slightly vinous. Quite dry. Nice finish: grape, buttery, clean.

Orange-forward and very not-bitter. Slightly drying finish with not much cereal at all.

Unsweet IPA, lightly grapey, turns to a nice cereal right when you think it’s going to turn bitter (which it never does).

Clear IPA with an intensely flavored, oily, sweet sheen. The flavor itself isn’t bad, but it’s a lot. Don’t very much love beers with this character, which seem increasingly common.

Candied lemon, bright, sweet, buttery. Not unlike certain types of herbal lemon drops. Triumph, cryo hops, 6% 66 IBU

A quite unsweet lemon-ginger tonic mixed with a pleasant lager, which does provide a touch of cereal sweetness. While this tastes almost medicinal at first I grew to enjoy it.

Bitter and woody; lightly fruity, thin.

Definitely on the sweet side, but I'd forgotten just how solidly tasty this is. Smooth and thin.

Very perfumey; orange, melon, sweet and thin. A little fakey.

Clean, lemon-pine IPA, moderately bitter, just south of perfumey.

Quite tart and I’m not sure I detect any cinnamon, and this is a sipping beer, but it’s quite good.

This year is on the dry side, with a lot of wood but less booze. There's some sourness that makes this sophisticated but maybe not as immediately delicious. Still, I'm not not going to order it.

Dry coffee, a touch of chocolate, a touch of something herbal as well that wasn't quite but reminded me of mint.

Interesting fresh hop, with typical intense fruit-forward flavor - pear and nectarine, maybe? And some unusual vinous notes as well. Finishes a bit oily but also mellow. Just a tiny bit of funk on the end.

Still pretty hoppy but I feel like this is very close to my memory of this beer despite the fact that it’s probably been aged eight years longer than the most recent time I’ve had it. Light caramel, booze.

Azacca for 2023. Sweet, candied orange perfume opening; does it quickly on the tongue; high bitter aftertaste.

Still sour, and wore out its welcome very quickly.

Definitely tart but not puckeringly so; clean, tannic, passion and pineapple, fruity.

Delightful. Glad after a few disappointments that at least this one seems to have stayed the same as my memory. Caramel notes along with a ton of red wine flavor.

Same vintage as last time but there was a sour tinge to this that built up over time, kid of like that infected-barrel quality that Big Block beers tend to have. By the end of the glass I was not enjoying it anymore.

Tannic, thin, makes me think of a nut liqueur like an amaretto or something. It’s good, but I think if there were a little more body to this thing it would be remarkable.

It's easy to take this one for granted, but I'm glad I tried it. Just super, super good.

Holds up in character through the nitro, chocolatey, roasty, mellow.

Each new release of this beer seems a little less whiskey and a little more Scotch ale. Fairly thin, but mellow. Barrel is mostly wood and background. A fine beer for my birthday.

Watery, diluted corn syrup impression from this beer. Definitely a big step down from the Oktoberfest.

I don’t know what was up with the last time, but this is very good again. Still hits every flavor I want from an Oktoberfest-Marzen.

Caramel, whiskey, notably chocolate. Smooth on its face but the finish is really dominated by a strong, clear, whiskey flavor. Compared directly against the Splinters it fares poorly but it's pretty good.

Musty watermelon candy, quite sour. Do not taste one iota of mint here, which is a shame, because it might have brightened the flavor.

More straight caramel sweetness than the Mort. Strong notes of the barrel but less straight whiskey.

Clean, lemon-pine IPA with a buttery sweet overtone. The flavor is a bit oily and builds up a bit over time. Has an edge.

Have you ever had a sour watermelon?

It’s been a good while since I’ve had this beer and the fact I’ve already had a grandfather raven means it’s hard to judge this impartially, but this is still very nice. Caramel, lightly plummy, thin but assertive. I think this lives up to my memory.

Strong but mellow, roasty and lightly fruity. I think in the past I have been rating this with the great grandfather raven in mind which is not fair. Strong for sure.

Orange, coriander, starts out with a positive impression but over time a musty wheat funk starts asserting itself. Clean finish.

Coming to and going back to the hospital seemed as good a reason as any.

In no way does this blueberry taste real, but it tastes enjoyable. Continues to be compelling in an unexplainable way.

Slightly smoky, deep roast, medium thick mouthfeel that has a creamier and more caramel smoothness than you’d expect from the opening. Clearly very strong.

Wet - Grassy - Cereal - Sweet - Candied lime rind - dry - perfume

Dry roasted biscuit, yeasty bitterness, leaves throat fairly dry. Caramel.

Good but not sure if it's an actual decline in quality or the Rum Coco Jones was just that good, but it suffers in direct comparison. Seemed thinner than I remember, a little more fruity and less balanced. Definitely got that Bourbon though.

Not a ton of rum in the flavor (although you can smell it), but this is pretty much as enjoyable as the base beer. Hard to say exactly, though, since I haven't had Coco Jones in a while. Lightly sweet, smooth, coconut. Nothing poking out around the edges.

Has continued to age in new and appealing ways. Quite mellow, with bourbon on top, burnt-caramel sweetness following through to raisin/date and what remains of the hops, dissipating in to a clean finish. Tastes like a warm home on a winter's day.

Pretty good, actually. A notable but appealing bitterness counters, lager-like, a piney hazy hop opening that is definitely not sweet and, in fact, almost on the savory side.

Doesn't taste much like an IPA, much less a hazy one; this is lightly fruity but mostly bready, starts light and sweet but has a little bit of a yeasty, bitter backbone. Finishes clean but there's a little bit of funk to it. It doesn't smell great though, a bit pungent in a way the flavor doesn't back up.

Really can’t taste peaches*. Hazy, slightly acrid up front but ends up lightly sweet, understated and mellow. *Maybe a bit "fuzzy" at the end, maybe those are the peaches poking through?

Dry, mildly tart, orange saison. More understated than I usually remember getting from Black Raven, but it’s been a while. Pretty good for a sunny day.

Fruity with all the bitterness.

Always good. Not top tier, but quite tasty. On the roasty side, with a slight build up of ash, maybe. Noticeable but not overbearing whiskey flavors. One to nurse for a while but worth the whole glass.

Yup.

Biscoff cookies, OJ and prunes. The JUICE for my Festivus Feats of Strength.

I don't feel like this has always been this bad. Reminds me of the old palate-killing Vienna lager from Hi-Fi. Funky-nutty and not much else.

Don’t know what they did to it this year. Smells terrible.

Ripe papaya, pith, slightly oily, resin. Not as cleanly enjoyable as the Azacca. Ironically this feels like Optimism's Azacca from yesterday.

Light papaya, citrus. A little oily and pungent at the start but overall it is light and sunny and fits the description.

Quite tart, fizzy, like a S. Pellegrino Arianciata Rossa with a funky finish, dry Brett bitterness, some horse blanket, but rather clean.

Decent hazy Pale. Little bit on the drier side - the fruit is "dark."

A round, fruity flavor that calls to mind orange peel. Malty and fruity rather than the hops I remember from earlier iterations of this beer.

Great hops smell and even better broad hops flavor, a green slightly resinous type. Complementary cereal body.

Mellow sweet wheat, grapefruit-apricot finish that rings clear and dry as a bell. Not bitter at all. A huge improvement from the 2.0 release.

Starts with a guava-passion fruit opening, some wheat funk, and then a kind of acrid bitter finish that was off-putting at first. After a few sips I think that part of my tongue got burned out and then the rest of the glass was actually quite pleasant. Wish that first part hadn't happened, though.

So good. 10.7abv.

Hilariously, when I ordered a Festivus they brought out another Splinters, and honestly I was too far gone to realize it, other than thinking they'd really improved the Festivus. When they corrected their mistake, yeah. Pretty perfumey.

Still excellent.

Medium roast, coffee-centric. Smooth from the nitro but characterful enough. Again, the barrel character was almost nonexistent. This wasn't going to win any contest against the Splinters, but it was a nice, lighter followup.

Smooth, buttery caramel and strong bourbon. Goes down disturbingly easily. This seems like two years in a row where the Splinters take has been very good.

I don’t hate this.

Much less wine than I remember; this tasted more like a straight up dubbel or quad. Lots of caramel, some boozy notes. I did like it better the old way.

Hoppy and juicy; I'd call this more of a wheat IPA than the name implies.

Better than I remember from past releases. Still not much of the barrel spirit present, if at all, but a fine roast stout with coffee notes, enough to counteract the nitro blandness and produce some solid flavor.

A strong release, I think. Very much bourbon, with a solid, malty, caramel Scotch ale base. Did not think this was thin at all. Back to an awesome rating, and drunk fresh at that!

Pretty good stuff. Maybe now I know why Tolstoy drools all over those catnip bananas I buy him.

Seemed a lot more fruity-sour than I remembered, and I don't know if that's real or if I've gotten more sophisticated. Either way I hate everything.

Smells nice and fruity. Sweetish alpha bitterness on the edges but a solid, unsweet flavor, a hint of tropical fruit and lightly pungent resin.

Sweet, very dark cherry sour.

Bready, banana like Belgian but with strong overtone of spicy hops. Drinkable, and pretty good flavor components, but honestly it was one of those more quality than enjoyment type beers for me.

This tasted really alcoholic today.

Not a "pumpkin beer", this is a good thing.

Sweet light malt body. Somewhat acidic finish. Pretty alcoholic after burn.

Yum yum. Very drinkable!

Given how much I dislike Black Raven's regular pale ale, I was very pleasantly surprised. The mandarin orange flavor is nice and round, slightly tart. Light finish.

Yum!

Subtle sweetness, balanced malt body.

Far less opaque than my memory? Still very good, though.

Thinner than I remembered, with a light, caramel, slightly nutty flavor. Bourbon is clear on the tongue but not overwhelming. I think I actually prefer the Possum Claus this year, and I don't know if it's me or the beer that's changed.

Initially thin porter taste gives way to a warm, slightly viscous caramel flavor. Hints of toasted pecans and bourbon that's initially hidden behind the caramel but is definitely there if you look. Stronger than it tastes, too. I was afraid this wouldn't match my memory but it might actually be better.

Fantastic. Green hop and citrus smell. Great taste balance of hop pine, citrus tang, and malt sweetness.

Vinegary smell. Effervescent, tart ale with definite raspberry notes and a sweet wheaty malt finish.

Pretty much an IPA with nice citrusy resinous hops flavors with a mild bitterness.

Strong chai flavors. The vanilla ones are more subtle. Pretty enjoyable.

Very sour, with some nice raspberry flavors. Has a little of a pickled flavor though.

Fruity, somewhat bitter, good yeast funkyness. Some of that tripel honey like sweetness.

Very smooth with strong and dry roasted coffee flavors.

Extremely fruity, round fruit and hops, on the front, although it's more of an essential-oil fruitiness than anything that seems super-integrated. The finish is a bit acrid and bitter, which builds up unpleasantly over time.

Very strong yeasty herbal flavors. Strong yeast bitterness. Good booziness.

Why, yes, I can keep doing this.