New Holland Dragon's Milk

Having tapped my first-ever keg of New Holland's Dragon's Milk on Monday (what took me so long), I checked the volume last night to see how far along we've gone in 4 days. Yikes! Almost gone. So, had a glass after work last night, took some shots, and looked back at my first bottle, from January, 2004:

Appearance: frightfully dark, deep plum color, with a generous, frothy, creamy, light tan head above, lace-leaving, slowly subsiding.

Aroma: chocolate, cream, vanilla...interesting...buttery, with a whiskeyish tinge, as well.

Taste: unusual, the vanilla lingers, a woody, chocolatey character dominates. Small hops, rich malt, and the 10% Abv is sneaky, not kicking into the flavor in the least. Oh, here it comes...fruitiness comes in toward the end, raisiny, plummy, ...such a nice little brew, a great buttress against this ridiculous sub-zero January chill.

I've had this on-tap before, at the Autumn Brew Review last fall, and wasn't so charmed...this bottle changed my mind. Were I a Michiganite, Dragon's Milk would have a coveted spot in the icebox.