Arcadia Cereal Killer Barleywine

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

Hazy reddish dark amber with tiny beige head. Sweet aroma with overripe fruits, caramel and chocolate notes. Sweet flavour with overripe fruits, caramel and hoppy notes towards the end. Plenty of roasted malt. Warming alcohol in the finish.

Bottled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Pours out in a cloudy reddish brown colour with a small off-white foam. Sweetish and really malty of caramel, milky chocolate, raisins, candied red berries and figs. Full-bodied with a rounded malty sweet flavour of cocoa, caramel, figs, fudge and raisins. Creamy mouthfeel. Long warming finish of fudge, raisins and alcohol. A surprisingly malty Barley Wine, very British.

Bottle@Oliver shared with Ante! (Thanks buddy!) Appearance: Fuzzy red with a nice whiteish lace. Aroma: Caramel, Raisin, Chocolate, Yeast, Herbs Flavor: Caramel, Malt, Sugar, Cherries, Grain. Palate: Thick and creamy with a nice touch of alcohol in the end. Very low carbonation on this one. I liked this barleywine alot. Maybe because i drank it outside during a cold and rainy day. Still, it’s sweet and powerful and makes for a good nightcap or as a dessertbeer on its own. Recommended!

THOUGHTS: My 500th rating. Halfway to beer god. This had that great barley wine smell, but a little more candy and fruit than normal. Overall a little too cloying to be great, but still really nice. Hid alcohol very well, but could use some hops. Tons of flavor just almost all sweet, like a candied apple and gets to be very cloying by the end. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a dark orangey, red brown with an average, off-white head that kept a thin sheet for awhile. The aroma was heavy molasses and caramel, very light chocolate, apple, cherry, toffee, maple syrup, candy and fruity, a little lemony citrus, tobacco, something like cinnamon, alcohol and that barley wine smell. The initial flavor was moderately sweet and lightly acidic; while the finish was heavily sweet and lightly acidic and bitter with a average to short duration. There was caramel malt, citrus, cherry, brown sugar, apple, almost cinnamon, that barley wine taste, candy and fruit. The medium to full body was syrupy with fizzy carbonation and a light astringent and light alcoholic finish.

(Bottle at Oliver Twist, Stockholm)
2007 vintage
On August 23, 2008
Clody copper to dark brown color, tan head. Sweet, sirup, alcohol, caramel scent. Also lacitc. Sweet and bitter taste. Caramel and roasted, som alcohol as well. Smooth mouthfeel, medium high bitterness. Also "Melissa officinalis" (citronmeliss) and licorice.

Bottled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Mahogany colour, minimal head. lactic cherry aroma with some caramel. Sweet and fruity with a tart, yoghurt-like component. Full bodied and thick, a bit syrupy. Floral resiny hops sets in late and gives shampoo flavour, black currant and resiny bitterness. A barleywine with some highlights, but also a lot of drawbacks.

Amber in color with a fluffy off-white head. Aromas of dark caramel and chocolate with a bubblgummy sweetness. In the mouth it was medium to full-bodied, rich and somewhat sweet with some plummy flavors as well in the midpalate. The palate finished somewhat dry and almost tannic.

22 oz bottle, 2006 vintage. Pours red brown with a medium tan head. Aroma is a very strong sweet caramel, with some alcohol. Flavor is again the sweet caramel up front, then some alcohol, bread (or the titular cereal), and roastiness comes in. Hops only really come through in the bitter finish, along with a kind of stale bread flavor. A few things are a little off, but still quite enjoyable.