Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Barley Wine
Piozzo, Italy

Appearance: Pours a still, clear reddish-brown body. It certainly does look viscous! Smell: Honey blended with rich caramel syrup and light brown sugar. Distinctive golden raisin character. Hint of oloroso. Taste: From the word "go" it’s an extreme honey-sweet, caramel flavor with plenty of golden raisin fruitiness. Some slight oxidative notes. Faint hint of herbal hops. Sweet, succulent finish with a perky alcoholic kick. It’s hard not to have a certain "glow" about you after that first sip. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Mild carbonation. Nicely warming. Xyauyù has a lush, velvety mouthfeel you’d expect from a sweet dessert wine. Drinkability: Truly, a fantastic beer! And it better be for the cost, especially when you consider the picture of the bottle on your screen is the actual size of the bottle itself.

Un assaggio offerto dalla Casa, a Piozzo; versa senza traccia di schiuma, colore ambrato con riflessi rossicci. Aroma con note di legno e miele, sapore dolcissimo ma non stucchevole, ricorda del buon porto. Sarebbe davvero da togliersi lo sfizio e concedersi una bottiglia da meditazione ogni tanto. Eccezionale.

Smells in between a red wine and a port. This interesting, a nice sweet beer that doesn’t seem to exhibit too much alcohol. I like.

Bottled shared with Degarth, Ibrew2or3 and Gillard. Plum colored body, very grape looking, gorgeous color. No head at all, not even any foam really. Some sediment in the bottom of the glass, especially from later pours of the bottle. Nose is pretty hot with fusels, also plums, dark malts, raisins, figs, caramel, rum soaked bread, caramel candy and candied sugars. Smells really, really good. Very fruity and dark without smelling sweet at all to me. Now the flavor, wow, what a difference. Super sweet, tons of sugar and sweet, sweet fruits. Behind all of that is a strong caramel and dark fruit backbone, and virtually no hint of the ABV. I just keep smelling and then tasting this beer over and over, because my head can’t wrap around how different those two things are, while both being superb. Medium bodied, sticky and satisfying. Warming as you drink more of it, the ABV shows up as a very slight burn in the very back of the throat. Caramel, sweet fruit preserves and malts carry into the lengthy finish. World class beer, and a startling discovery.

Bottled shared with Degarth, Quake1028 and Gillard. Pours a muddy brown with no head. The aroma is just delicious with a sweet slap in the face of dark fruity esters showing up as figs, dates and sugar dredged plums. Behind the hammer of sweetness is a caramel candy backbone. The taste is an initial sludge of sweet sweet prunes followed by figs, dates and very ripe cherries. It is just silky sweet. The initial impression is that this would be a great dessert beer. A stream of creamy caramel candy wells up only a small offering of flavor next to the wealth of fruitiness. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a beer this expensive. I was prepared for it to be worse. Maybe that is partially why it tastes so darn good. Very good, in fact.

JJPm’s summer party 07. Pours a mostly clear light amber, almost flat and no head. Aroma is full of sherry oxidation- very solvent-like, some junmai daiginjo sake and cedar notes as well- tons of alcohol burn in the nose. More alcohol- gin/vodka notes, very sweet but more sherry sweet than caramel sweetness, light spices and pepper but that may be from the alcohol tingliness. Oxidized paper in the finish with a sweet alcohol bite. Too over the top and the forced oxidation obviously hurts the beer.

C-Bus 10: Bottle shared by puddintane: Pours a clear copper color with a thin off whtie head. Aroima, caramel and brown sugar, woody, hot. Flavor, sweet, boozy with some caramel, brown sugar, very hot. It needs some time.

Bottle brewed in 2004. Fruit, musty fermantation and medium alcohol. Orange/cloudy copper body with no head to speak of, but most don’t. Apple fruit with a good caramel crystalization to the body texture. Alcohol not a factor although has a mild to medium body warming effect. Smooth on the palate with sweet fruity aftertaste. Good brew.