Aldergrove Auld Persnickety Barleywine Ale

Brewed by Steffans Aldergrove Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Marysville, Washington USA

Bottle. Pours clear dark copper with a lacy beige head. Sweet toffee and fruit aroma. Medium body and active carbonation. Sweet, chewy malt taste, brown sugar and honey that fades plums and nuts, and then the bittering and alcohol catches up with the rest of this beer. This one might improve a bit with cellaring, but it’s nicely balanced just as it is.

Dark purple and brown colored body. Instant nose of crystal malt with a bit of sweet plum and tobacco as well and some mildly fruity hops. Flavor is pretty similar, more chewy, resinous crystal malt, a bit of bran, and some more plum, black cherry, tobacco and caramel with a mild to medium bitterness and a light fruitiness to the subdued hops. Not bad.

Courtesy of kmweaver. Hazy amber body with a small white head. Sweet fruity nose with raisins, caramel, some cherry and oodles of toffee. The flavor is quite sweet, moderate to light bitterness with a sickeningl amount of crystal malt - tea, caramel, astringency, lots of brunt raisin, some berry, pine and citrus. Full body is chewy and sticky with moderate carbonation.

12oz bottle, courtesy of after4ever. Thanks, Tom! Pours a hazy, deep honey-brown color; creamy off-white head with solid retention and fine-bubbled lacing. Lots of sticky sweet maple syrup, candy sugar, and dried fruits in the aroma; smooth, quite full. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: tons of chewy candy sugar and dried fruits, following the aroma; lightly carbonated; chewy, dense, some oiliness, with a touch of dust coming through mid-palate. Lengthy sweet finish: candy sugar and lingering stickiness; smooth and tasty.

Many thanks to skyview for sharing. Nice malty nose with strong hops as I’d expect in a young barley wine. Very sweet with a dry, raisin flavor. Golden color with faint head.

12oz bottle from yonkers65. Uber sweet aroma of thick caramel, brown sugar, green pepper, prunes and raisins. Interesting for sure. Pours a nearly still looking dark brown with rich maroon accents and a creamy off white head leaving so so lacing. Flavor is quite sweet. Sticky sweet. Not quite Samaels, but close... Butterscotch, caramel, toffee, dark fruits, maple syrup, blackberry juice, tart purple grape skin. Wow. This one’s all over the map. Needs a little more hop balance to restrain the sweetness. Age should hopefully treat this one well. Medium bodied and close to cloying in it’s stickiness.

2007. mildly aromatic of resiny caramel. mostly still deep brown with the only head around the edge of the glass. little rough, very delicate for a barleywine. cherry blossom and oak in the finish.

’07 bottle tasted at a few months of age Jan ’08.

Red-brown with a sustained head. Massive butterscotch and toffee aroma, very sweet nose, currant juice, alcohol. There’s an off twist to it - spoiled berries - that carries into the flavor. The flavor itself is very sweet, again a bit buttery, tons of toffee, candied fruit, an incongruous and short-lived hop bite through the late middle before giving way to lots of alcohol. Far more English than West-Coast in style.

I’m with the crowd here. This one might have some potential with a serious bit of age on it -- three years plus. It’s good and interesting enough to be worth trying, but unless some real alchemy takes place in the cellar this is never going to be in the league of Alaskan/Boardhead/Fred/Old Stock.