Iron Hill Oak Aged Old Tom

Formerly brewed at Iron Hill Wilmington
Style: Barley Wine
Wilmington, Delaware USA

Hand bottle from TheEpeeist. What a treat! Hazy amber pour with a great fluffy tan head. Aroma is so complex. Booze, fresh oak, funk, cheese, lemony notes and yeast. Flavor is sweet/tart with tons of oak, fruit, yeast, lemon, wet earth...damn this one has stood the test of time and then some! WOW!!

12-oz hand-bottle. Thanks, Riverside! Pours cloudy dark amber with a lacy ring of foam. Sour cherry and barnyard funk and oak aroma. Creamy medium body. Sweet-tart taste of caramel, almond, and funk. This is a barleywine???

Handbottle, via axilla. Pours a hazy amber body with a small fleeting beige head that ran to a thin ring. The nose is very bretty, actually overpowering the big malt bill. Grape and plum fruitiness with oak, light bourbon, and caramel malt. No noticeable alcohol on the nose. The flavor is just a great melding of the brett and toffee maltiness, balanced with a bit of oaky dryness. Zero alcohol apparency, just a light warmth to the finish. Virtually zero residual sugars left in this guy. This might be one of the brettiest beers I’ve had. The high attenuation keeps this 10.5% beast pretty light on the palate with zero stickiness, unlike what you might expect from a Barley Wine like this. The mouthfeel is just awesome on this one. Overall, a unique beer to be sure, I hope that they make this one again.

growler - thanks to bvc for sharing this interesting (to say the least) beer; dark amber with slight tan head; initial aroma is mainly of dirty feet; lots of funk, dirt and pooh; drinks quite nice considering the off-putting aromas; texture is thin and sweet; wood, sugar, tartness; the barley wine seems to have disappeared for the most part; over a few glasses, this really started to grow on us; glad we had a growler to allow for multiple samples; still the aromas were quite awful

From Mreusch. Pours dark ruddy brown with a thin cream colored head. Nose is tart and oak. Strong vinegar like tartness. The flavor is dried fruit and caramel with a tart vinous front, smooth oak in the mid to finish, and then a bitter aftertaste. Old Tom may have been the base beer for this one, but it seems the barrel may have turned this into a decent sour.

Hand bottle via the epeeist, huge thanks! Pours a copper color with a small beige colored head. Aroma is tart fruit, caramel, alcohol, oak. Flavor is caramel, leather, tart fruits, alcohol, oak. Palate is medium bodied, mild carbonation, finished mildly tart and dry with a blast of alcohol warming. Interesting brew, the alcohol warming along with the tartness is quite unique. Nice.

Poured a hazed amber color with a minimal head. Big tart fruit aroma with notes of leather and wood. Some sweet malt starts off the flavor with a light tartness in the middle. Dry finish with a bitter backbone. Medium bodied and nice warmth in the chest.

Hand bottle thanks to BrianK poured a hazy copper brown with a lingering ring of amber foam. Aromas of oak, vanilla, carmel, dark fruit, spice and light toffee. Palate was medium bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of oak, vanilla, toffee, carmel, spice and light plum with a smooth dry lingering bittersweet finish.