Tun Tavern Freedom Ale

Formerly brewed at Tun Tavern
Style: Barley Wine
Atlantic City, New Jersey USA

Draft...rich reddish copper...a skimming of a head thats off-white...aromas of vanilla, caramel, and sweet malts...a creamy silky body...has essences of wort....subtle hops spread throughout and strong vanilla and oak flavors... sticky on the lips...and 11%, very well disguised

Copper-brick, filtered and clear, topped by a mostly lasting light off-white head. Nice colour really. I can certainly see how many people like that beer so much. It is quite similar to what Southern Tier, DFH, Avery or Weyerbacher might pull out. Full on syrupy malts with thick toastiness. Well-developed fruitiness (strawberries, blueberries, cherries – the like). Red-flavoured if I may say so, kinda juicy despite the thickness. Sweet all the way, which makes it a bit difficult to drink. It forces a certain earthy hoppiness in, but never really attempts to tame the malt beast. The carbonation also gets in the way, a forced bubbliness that stays apart from the ensemble and refuses to grant the beer the chance to be the thick caramel laden dessert it meant to be.

Date: 02/01/2007
Mode: Hand Bottled
Source: Tasting

clear dark brown, rich dark fruit and chocolate aroma with nice sweetness and a touch of soy, thick chewy body, rich sweet malt flavor, lots of dark fruit character, light lingering bitterness, touch of growing alcohol,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 9/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

Thanks to Paul (Dickinsonbeer) for breaking out this gem of a barleywine. Deep amber in color. Aroma is whiskey, caramel, oak. Taste is sweet with alot of caramel, dark fruit-raisins, whiskey, vanilla, and oak. Finishes with some alcohol warm and oaky. Full bodied, syrupy. Very nice whiskey barrel barleywine.

Hand Bottled: Deep caramel, basically burnt, moderate fizzy light beige head, sparce lacing.   Soft Bourbon and oak on the nose, vanilla, graham cracker, seems sweet and delicious!   Very warming malts on the tongue, soft yet viscous.   Vanilla and Bourbon are at the forefront, with light aspects of dark pitted fruit and sugar glaze.   Moderate to full bodied, seems somewhat thick.   Big malty finish, very low hop profile yet it is present.   Sweet, almost syrupy, with lingering oak, Bourbon, vanilla, and minor dark pitted fruits.   Good stuff!   Big props to Dickinsonbeer for sending me this one!

Hand-bottle sampled on 1/31/07: Clear dark copper amber pour has a thin coating of light tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel malt and brown sugar with some dark fruity complexity. Body starts dense and viscous with a lot of sweet dark aged caramely malt and brown sugary raisins, some light vanilla and alcoholic notes toward a sweet, full finish. A nicely-aged, complex barley wine.

Poured a lightly hazed deep copper color with a small off-white head. Nice thick legs. The aroma was big on the vanilla. Very fruity with light alcohol and some whisky. The aroma was very big and very nice. The flavor was big on the fruitiness with notes of vanilla and whisky. Full bodied and very warming.

On tap at Tun. Reddish/brown color with a small tan head. Sweet aroma of molasses, bourbon, vanilla and light hops. Sweet malty flavor with the bourbon very apparent but never overpowering. Molasses, vanilla and oak are the flavors that round out the taste. Gets a bit cloying by the end of the glass, but by far the best beer I have had from Tun.