Ballast Point Old Barmy Ale

Served on tap at the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival 2009. The appearance is hazy orange/apricot hue with a large white head. The aromas and flavors are sweet apricot, peach, and other stone fruits, honey, very sweet and creamy. The fruit flavors are excellent and natural.

Tap at Blue Palms for LA Beer Week. This beer is legit. Nose of powdery cherries, mold, wheat, slight funk. Color is that great powder violet of Count Chocula berries. Flavor is full of fruit, lavender, just hinting at sourness but never quite diving in. Finish is dry and rather long. Really enjoyable. These people deserve more attention for their sours.

Dammit deleted ratings. This shalll be short and sweet. On tap @ Downtown Johnny Brown’s. Clear golden with a short-lived white head. Aroma of ripe apricots and peaches, a little fruity tang, some candi sugar and honey. Flavor is canned peaches/apricots with the candied syrup. There is still some tangy peach/apricot and alcohol noted, but not enough to combat the overall sweetness. Bitterness is minimal in the sweet finish. Full body with low carbonation. Very good beer, but gets a little too much even after this 10oz pour with the sweetness.

Appearance: Pours out a clearish, deep yellow body with a small-sized, white head. Smell: Simple, though distinct aroma of sugary sweet honey and fresh sliced apricots splashed with a little Viognier. Taste: Lightly tart, fruity apricots tossed with a good dose of table sugar and coated with copious amounts of honey. There’s a touch of alcohol in there, but, to me, it’s nowhere near the asserted high ABV. Well, Ballast certainly doesn’t cheat the drinker when it comes to fruit or honey flavor. No real hop character or bitterness though. Finishes expectedly sweet and fruity. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium-low carbonation. Lightly sticky mouthfeel. Drinkability: While it is quite flavorful, the excessive sweetness and somewhat expansive body does, as GAManiac says, hamper the overall drinkability. But would I recommend it? Sure, why the hell not?! Recommended! So long as "sweet" and "apricots" are fond members of your vocabulary that is.

Growler courtesy of WeeHeavySD shared with the boys at the Brick Store. Pours a slightly hazy golden with a decent sized whitish head that lingers a bit as a cap and leaves hints of lacing. Whoa, I wasn’t expecting this aroma. It’s definitely got a ton of apricots which are evident from the get-go. There is also more than a dash of honey sweetness in the nose as well. The taste is more of the same with a massive honey sweetness forming the backbone underneath the apricot and some oaky tannins lending a slightly bitter finish to this one. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and very sticky - lots and lots of sugary sweetness lingering on the palate throughout. This is a very interesting and tasty beer. The sweetness limits the drinkability fairly substantially for me. I really, really like this one, but getting through my second glass wasn’t easy. Tasty and unique.

Grolwer fro JW77. Wow, cool beer! Aroma of honey, stone fruits, malt, and caramel. Flavor is fruity but has a tad of tartness. The honey is obvious, it reminds me of a mead. Honey, apricot, caramel and malt. Nice stuff.

Sampled at the Brewery. Tastes really sweet/sour and alcohlic. Not exactly my style, but very passable. Reminded me of Meade Goes down smooth, just too sweet. On the chalkboard they call it liquid panty remover.

This beer is very rare and made in small batches. It is also very awsome from the first sip to the last! made with apricots and orange blossom honey it’s a 10.7% dream for strong ale and meade lovers. Strong fruit and honey through out and a nice full body. Nice mouth feel. Great carbonation.