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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Super perfumey, not bitter but high and dry and sweet. The piney hop oil coats the tongue and lingers.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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

Yum!

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.

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.

Might be the best batch yet? Cherry, subtle clove, bit of chocolate on the finish.

Nicely toasty-sweet, gem-clear with a rich, yeasty fragrance. I think this year's batch is less hop-prickly than before and more straight Oktoberfest lager in character. Since I really like that, I think it may the best batch yet.

Mildly tart, soda-like weisse with a dry, blackcurrant tang leading into a sweet wheat finish. Maybe I've just had too many British pastilles, but I couldn't help thinking of anise and medicinal herbs when drinking this. Other than that, it was pretty tasty (and different!).

Chocolate and light bourbon. Plum. A nice sipper.

I wanted to like this but didn't quite connect. The tripel character borders a bit on the syrupy side, and the transition to wood is more disconnected than I'd like. It took me quite a while to finish this one.

Hoppy, syrupy, cloying. Verged a bit on medicinal in flavor. Really had a hard time with this.

Cleaner profile similar resinous hopiness pretty good

Well rounded resinous hopiness. Nice pepper flavor without any spiciness. Obvious cardamoms flavors. Leaves a pretty strong herbal flavor in the mouth.

Pretty good for a sour... I'm starting to get this whole sour thing, darn you all, especially you, Matt.

Kind of middle of road as far as scotch ales go...

Very spicy with the peper flavors eclipsing everything else

Yup. Still good.

Still as excellent!

Today this beer felt a lot stronger on the bourbon, but I may have been burned out on strong beer. It was still really tasty but a little less remarkable.

It didn't taste much like a wit, nor a radler (their cute name for this cask). Much more profound, like a Belgian IPA, with equal parts dank hops and clove and white pepper in the flavor. Some citrus, although of the candied variety, and maybe some anise or medicinal herb in there? Weird. Not bad, but really weird.

Reeeeealllly good! Good roastiness, not too boozy for the abv. Really, really good. Thankfully not as woody as the random barrell I was lucky to taste a few months ago. Had two of them :3 Can't believe the bottles were all gone in a few hours.

Dry, dark chocolate with subdued wood and a good amount of bourbon. This was more balanced than I remember - just absolutely delicious. I may have had more than I should have, but I was on the rebound from having missed the bottles (which sold out in an hour!).

Still pretty good.

Pretty good, strong resinous flavors but with a pleasant added touch of citrus flavors in the finnish.

A little too prickly to be refreshing for me.

Stronger bitter finish, bottle was sweetly bland by comparison.

I'm convinced that this batch is better on draft than in the bottle. The herbal bitterness I remembered was fully in presence, and offset the sweet berry very well.

Meh really not a fan of this one. The sour/vinegary/tangy flavors brought by the brett fermentation really doesnt mix well with the extra resinous hop flavors

A bit on the dry side for an Imperial Stout, which matches earlier impressions, but with a nice milky smoothness to the opening that makes this hard to dislike. On the thinner side for a beer of this strength, which, hoo-girl, it does have.

Quite enjoyable imperial stout with very dry and roasty flavors. It has somewhat of a thin texture. Quite boozy and strong.

Still very enjoyable with its blueberry muffin flavors and herbal bitterness.

Clean and crisp flavor profile with somewhat of a wet hops taste.

Very smooth and not too bitter. Presents a good mix of fruity flavors and herbal spices flavors.

This seems very different every year. This one was a lot like a sweet, dessert coffee drink, with just a bit of sourness. Still no real obvious barrel character in evidence.

Not sure if it was nitro vs CO2 or just the flavor in general, but this was very different than my memory from two years ago. Blueberry is just a hint, with a kind of pie crust malt sweetness taking the spotlight. The finish is a moderate herbal bitterness which I think is new, and actually quite appealing. This beer is a legitimate winner now, rather than an enjoyable curiosity.

Oak, vanilla, buttery caramel and molasses flavors. It's very sweet and a little bit boozy. Feels more like a barrel aged quad than a porter. Maybe a little bit too sweet.

Blueberry flavor reminds a lot of blueberry muffins. Hard to identify herbal taste, probably the catnip. End with a pleasing bitterness

Still better on draft. More bitter than I remembered.

I always appreciate when Black Raven puts out a cask that isn't just a differently-dry hopped IPA. Typical for cask, a lot of earthy, herbal notes from the hops, as well as a good, dry, dark chocolate flavor on top. The peppercorn notes clarify as the beer warms up, and while they're interesting they made some of the other flavors more "pokey" instead of balancing things out.

Lot of aromatic herbs flavors (dill, chive, oregano) some grassy/hay flavors. Interesting yeast bitterness. The mild sourness reminds a lot of white wine.

Very strong peppercorn flavors without any spiciness. Mixes pretty well with the beer's mild sweetness.