Mirror Mirror on the wall- whose the fairest of them all?

Ah, Deschutes. How you have been such a part of my life...You know how to make fantastic beers that are high in alcohol and full of flavor. You don't mess around. The same goes for their 2009 release of the Mirror Mirror. It's a oak- aged barleywine that is taken from their Mirror Pond Pale Ale and doubled to be a barleywine (11%).  They say to cellar and age this beer until April 2010 (the best after date on the bottle). But we cracked this one open now...The 2009 has the traditional dense malt/high alcohol flavor but you get a lot of hoppy nose flavor and a bitter finish...It's definitely a sipper-after dinner or beforehand as an aperitif.... Usually when you age a beer that has such a high alchohol content, the flavors mellow and interact. It's definitely worth buying 2- 1 to try now and one to store and compare when you open it.