Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Barley Wine
Piozzo, Italy

50cl bottle thanks to photomike. Orange amber color with no head, which was to be expected due to the lack of carbonation. Sweet and fruity aroma of dried apples, brown sugar, and rich caramel. The flavor was a malt feast, with low hops and almost no alcohol presence. Big dried fruit and brown sugar flavors, with hint of oxidation adding to the port wine feel of the beer. The body is full and a touch oily, with zero carbonation. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this beer, heck, I didn’t even know that it was still, but I loved it. A very well crafted and unique barley wine that is a great dessert sipper. I’m glad that we split this five ways, as it was about the perfect amount, akin to a dessert wine. At the price it commands, this will be a very rare purchase, but I would definitely like to have it again.

All I can say about this is wow.. This cost me $240 for a 6-pack case, but it was worth every penny. This is like a carnival in a bottle, large toffee popcorn aromas, some butterscotch, and cotton candy. Lots of dark fruit flavors, with sweet molasses, dates, a bit of tar, and rich alcohol to round out the finish. This was lovely.

2004 Bottle - Lordy, lordy...Thanks to Sam, we tasted all 3 Xyauyu side by side, absurd!...Pours shimmery dark gold, no head, a still beer, if you call it beer...aroma is aged fruit, caramel and molassas...flavour is the same, smooth as silk and only slight heat, sherry like in the mouth...I would never have guess this beer if tasing from stemware without pouring it myself...if not for the absurd price tag, this would easily always be in my house.

Italian Tasting at FOF, Gyngen, Aarhus, DK Bottled, 291008. Ruby-brown with no head. Aroma of malt and dried fruit. Flavor sweet of figs, dats, raisins - some orange and a balanced tone of alcohol

Thanks to Hopstar for this brew. Pours amber with a faint white head that fades quickly. Syrupy palate that reminds me of mead or port. Flavor of caramel, honey, port, butterscotch and a faint clove hint to it. Alcohol was there, but not overwhelming. This was a 2004 bottle so it has had time to soften. Very well built sipper beer.

Bottle shared by Marcus. Really appreciated. Brilliant ruby copper color with no head. Aromas of fruit, tobacco and leather. It’s got floaties! [small ones] Then the aroma goes towards plums. Now I can imagine chocolate. Super full bodied. Hardly any carbonation. Flavor is medium sweet, and then confusing: mapley? dates? Chocolate? And there’s a lot more. This is what SA’s Tripple Bock should hae been. It’s wonderful. Just gets better and better.

Bottle, at White Horse Babbelfest, August 2005. Red bronze, no head and minimal condition. Woody sherry sweetness and potent alcohol in the nose, soft and alcoholic in the mouth with sherry sweet syrupy maltiness and a touch of oak, long warming alcoholic finish with a lingering sticky sweet sherry note.

2004 Vintage Near as no head; dark red chestnut beer. Very stimulating, nosevein-dilatating portwine or other fortified wine aroma, with exotic woods as sandelwood & cedar, chocolate, alcohol, fusels and fuselesters. Vinous, especially as exceptional vintage port. Very sweet, vinous, Marssala, and definitely again mild chocolate notes. Faraway hints of oranges, preserved in brandy, sucaded fruit, slowly oxydized and (if that were possible) esterised malts, with exotic spices seasoned. Viscous to syrupy, explosion of body & flavours at each sip, indestructible. It might miss just a tad of balance, defending itself from the ethanol onslaught, but it is a wonderful beer anyhow, something to be savoured slowly after dinner. Mille grazie, Lorenzo, for bringing me this bottle!