 bitbucket (1471), Kirkland, Washington, USA
Apr 24, 2008
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.
ChainGangGuy (1444), Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
Jul 13, 2008 Appearance: Pours a clear, orange-red body with a creamy, frothy, eggshell-colored head that just lasts and lasts.
Smell: First and foremost, it’s a fruity aroma smelling of cherries, apricots, and sugar-coated peach pits. Plenty of caramel and honey in there as well.
Taste: High degree of candied sweetness with tastes of caramel and honey. Blend of flavorful fruit juices. Medium hop bitterness fights a thankless battle to push back those damned, uppity sugars. Slight woody hint. Semi-dry finish with a lingering fruitiness.
Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied bolstered by some stickiness to the mouthfeel. Medium carbonation.
Drinkability: It’s rather unabashed about its high amount of residual sweetness, it’s a bit coarse, alcholwise, and it’s just not as well-rounded as some better examples of the style. That said, there’s no reason this won’t get its act together with some solid time away in the cellar.
CaptainCougar (4599), Rockville, Maryland, USA
Jun 21, 2008 Bottle thanks to 5000: Pours a transparent deep orange copper with a spotty-lacing white head. Aroma of sweet floral hops and caramel malt with some light fruity brown sugar character. Body starts with a rich, sticky caramel maltiness and an assertive resiny hop bitterness with some peppery warming alcohol in the finish and strawberry fruity complexity. A pretty good barleywine, but could hide its alcohol better.
kramer17801 (1843), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Jun 4, 2008 12 oz bottle, via 5000. Pours a mostly clear amber body with a small tight bubbled beige head that faded to a wispy film. The nose is big heavy toffee and caramel malt with some fruits, alcohol, residual sugars, and a touch of acetone. The flavor is huge caramel up front with lots of residual sugars, it’s almost like liquid brown sugar. I don’t get the monsterous amount of hops that they are claiming is in here, but there is a little bitterness cutting in on the finish. Some candied dark fruits and dark honey linger on in the finish for ever. The alcohol really doesn’t show thru much for being 10% plus, maybe because it’s so super sweet. Actually, this almost tasted like a DFH beer with this combo of intense sweetness and high ABV. Mouuthfeel is thick and just shy of syrupy with moderate fine fizzy carbonation. Overall, not the most desirable of formulations for a Barley Wine for me. No big flaws, it’s just not really my thing.
bb (1950), Martinez, California, USA
May 1, 2008 Bottle. Bopper beer with a low off-white head. Plum, sweet malt aroma with light vanilla. Sweet malt flavor with toffee, plum, and brown sugar. Medium bodied. Plum and brown sugar linger. Alcohol noticeable. Nice, but needs time. A bit sweet with good fruitiness.
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