Arcadia Cereal Killer Barleywine

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

Bottle, 2006 vintage. Aroma is just incredible. Notes of Dark ripe and dried fruit, port, sweet caramel, licorice, and sugar candy. Smaller than average off-white head that mostly diminished and left little lace. Dark red amber hue. Flavor is more of the same sweet fruity port-like candied nectar. Palate is full bodied and smooth. A very good barley wine that has aged very well. I’m really surprised by the other reviews of this brew, it really was top notch at this point in it’s aging. Just beautiful.

Wow. You look up "elixir" in the dictionary just to see if this is in there, and you’ll find that your dictionaries today are outdated already. This Barley Wine is smooth, not bitingly bitter, balanced, uber-drinkable, rare for something so big and alcoholy. These hop-types and malt-combos work insanely well in this one. Oh my dear, DocLock only gave this a 3.5? C’mon, Doc! C’mon, RateBeer raters, stop following the crowd! Where am I supposed to knock this down in score? Can’t knock the apppearance, of course. You could theoretically knock its flavor for not being "intense like a Barley Wine should be," but it doesn’t have to be intense to be good. (What, it’s not "done to style" so you’re going to punish it even though it’s excellent?) I can’t knock the velvety palate. It’s got hop/malt complexity going on. The 9% ABV is insanely well-hidden. So what does it leave us to knock? When drinkability is this insane, you don’t knock it. Case closed.

Proud to be the lone maverick way-out-there high-rater on this one so far. They will come around on this one. Or else.

Hell, I’m even bumping this up mid-rating from 4.5 to 4.6, and pray I don’t alter it further.

I have to say that this is possibly the best name I have seen for a beer! Pours a rich dark amber color with a thick white head. Aromas of brown sugar, malt, some hops. It really smells good. Taste is excellent. Quite rich. Very malty and on the sweet side. Alcohol is there, lingering in the background. What I would expect from a good English Style Barleywine. Mouthfeel is rich and warming. No doubt that this is a strong beer, but it goes down very easily. Overall one of the best barleywines I have tried. I prefer the English style to the American style, and this beer didn’t disappoint. I wish I could find this beer closer to home. I would definitely get more!

Very fruity and strong. Not as rich as some of my favorite barleywines, but not bad.

2007 vintage bomber into a pint glass. Really rich dark brown pour with healthy fluffy khaki head that hold pretty well. Hops, whiskey, malt, Christmas cake, black cherries, sweet and spicy notes... very delicious and complex. All of the aromas in the flavor with a sweet doughy, malty finish. Not as much hops as expected, but this tastes really well balanced to me, maybe a bit too sweet, but thats up for your interpretation. Huge on the palate, doughy, coating, thick, smooth. I am having trouble rating this because I am very enticed to give it a perfect score, but for some reason feel guilty for doing so. I am going to have to give this time and re-rate it after I get some more barley wine experience. Overall: WAY underrated and well worth the price (I payed $8)

Oh yes, I do love barley wines, and this one smells lovely. Roll it around in the glass and it gives off some strong notes: cherry, fig, vanilla, wood, brown sugar ....smells almost like it was cask aged. Regardless, it looks damn good -a deep dark brown-red color, like there is some serious flavor waiting for you in there. Flavor is interesting, it alerts the mouth right away with a mixture of bitterness and alcohol, but not overly crisp. Then is smooths out into a chewy rich caramelized cherry and rich vanilla flavor, very rich, sweet and delicious!

Ruby cloudy color, pungent aroma. velvety feel. smooth taste ends with notes of raisin and a good kick at the end.

now how many people bought this for the name or label? i wonder, anyway to the review ... 2006: aged 2 years ... rum, chocolate, cherry, aged oak in the nose ... lots of dark fruits, honey, cherry skins in the teeth and tongue department ... great looking beer, good hot cocoa head ... mellowed still has ’’the LooK’’ (40 games, that’s 80 looks) ... a real nice barleywine that has aged quite nicely ...