Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Barley Wine
Piozzo, Italy

Bottle. Deep copper orange in color with no head. Malty caramel oak aroma. Fruity vanilla honey notes. Malty sweet flavor. Brown sugar, fig and molasses notes. Very sweet tasting. Tastes of strong alcohol. Dark fruity finish. Nice beer. Very interesting.

The pour shows clear orange, flat and headless. Upon first sniff, whiffs of vegetal alcohol take over the nose, strongly woody and orangey. Huge fruitiness adds a truly sherryish nature in the form of concentrated pumpkins, melon and mango. The cask wood influence is neat, adding an oily, rich and meaty influence that is attenuated a bit by soy sauce hints. Sweet candi sugar is also hurt a bit by the vegetal saltiness. For 13% though, its alcohol is very well contained while the bitterness remains totally under control. Flat and slick bodied, very full. Interesting and original take, fully grainy and extracted, but not among my favourites. Thank you Lorenzo.

2005 Bottle Vintage; Sampled January 2009
A wine bottle that, unsurprisingly, has no carbonation. As I pour this beer notes of sherry and prunes are noticeable. The beer has not head and has a deep, dark-red / purple-plum color with a touch of brown around the edges. When held up to the light the beer shows a clear, bright ruby hue, but there is a ton of floaties in the beer, despite resting comfortably for at least a month. This has lots of fruity notes that are reminiscent of Brandy (dark grape notes, concentrated berry notes and a jam-like red wine character). There is a nutty note here as well as the soft sherry notes, but I wouldn’t say that this is overly oxidized; it is a very impressively smooth oxidation. The alcohol provides some warming to the nose.

The beer is quite sweet. It finishes with a solid fruitiness that reminds me of Port. Flavors of prunes, raisins, dried blackberries, . In the finish there seems to be a touch of herbal hops and a faint bitterness that doesn’t really become noticeable in the finish until long after the beer has left my mouth (giving a chance for the sweet fruit notes to die down a bit). Thee is a light nuttiness and a hint of sherry, but this was a bit more prominent in the aroma. A touch of orange zest (more like Grand Marnier) joins the other more dark fruit driven flavors. While the sweetness provides lots of viscousness to this beer, the lack of carbonation tends to keep the body light some how; despite this the beer is most definitely a sipping beer though

This is one of those beers that you would be hard pressed to guess is beer in a blind tasting. This tastes so much like a fortified wine (like Port), and it drinks just like one as well. I really enjoy a good Port from time to time, and I am really digging this right now. This is very interesting, it isn’t overly complex though as really the sweet, dark, oxidized fruit flavors tend to dominate. I’ll admit this wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but this is quite good.

Bottle. Torben Matthews tasting. Medium head with medium duration. Color is ruby amber. Aroma and taste are sherry and port, sweet almond, fruits and alcohol. Vinous.

2004 vintage, sampled 12/2007; thanks to Laurent Mousson again - clear reddish-amber colour, aroma of cognac, caramel and alcohol; candi sugar and pear; very sweet and without carbonation; thick and oily, late and solid bitterness; moderately dry, long caramelish and fruity finish - deeply original and impressive; far better than the experimental release

thanks to Laurent "SubCapt" Mousson for sharing this beer which he directly got from Theo; this beer has been madeirised by a long (1-2 years) exposition of the casks to the sun - red-brown colour, absolutely no foam; prodigiously complex nose (caramel, portwine, honey), very resinous and with an incredible sweetness, no carbonation; very long, glutinous and cloying sweetness before a big finishing alcohol kick and a lingering spiciness - very very special and original; to enjoy with lot of care (4/7/3/2/9)

Bottle. 2004 . 12% Clear ruby amber, high viscosity. Rich, alcoholic nose (highly refined), wood (oak touches). Oily, very low carbonation, good clean alcohol. Sweet yet smooth. Balanced at such extreme. High quality sipper.

[2005 bottle]Pours clear copper colour. No head, just a few big bubbles floating on top. Sweet, malty aroma with notes of rowan sherry. Thick, sweet and oily mouthfeel. Flavour is very sweet with notes of oak, sherry and rowan berries. Alcohol is very well hidden.

No head. Deep amber body. Sugary port and honey aroma with fruity notes. Sweet rounded fruity port taste with honey and apple notes. Some alcohol taste, too. Dry alcoholic dried fruity and malt aftertaste. (0.74l bottle at Knut Albert’s.)