Barleys Barley Wine

Sampled at Barley’s 7th Annual Mini Real Ale Fest. Opaque copper color with a thin off-white head. Grassy hop aroma with a caramel malt balance. Malty flavor up front with a bitter hop finish. Nicely balanced.

Draft sample at MRAF 2009. Poured hazy reddish copper color with a moderate frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate fruity and small malty aroma. Medium to full body with a sticky texture and flat carbonation. Moderate to heavy fruity bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a complex standout beer.

22oz bomber, hand bottled by moejuck--thank you Joe. Cloudy orange caramel with a one finger creamy yellowish white head, good retention. Good job hand bottling, Joe! Pineapple and citrus hops atop a big sweet caramel malt backbone. I can only pick up on a small amount of spicy alcohol. Flavor is again pretty sweet with caramel malts and a fair amount of grainy malts. The alcohol is more apparent as well. The hops are present, but seem to take a bit of a backseat to the malts. Bitterness peaks around a 3-4 in the semi-dry finish. Low carbonation with a big fat full body. If it was just a little less sweet it’d make me happier--but then again BW are not my most favorite. As it is, it’s pretty good.

Bottle courtesy of Ibrew2or3. Pours a hazy orange golden color with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet and floral with notes of grapefruit, citrus, honey, caramel, dark fruit. Flavor is sweet and floral with notes of hops, grapefruit, citrus, honey, caramel and some hints of ripe dark fruit. Generally medium body with a sweet and floral finish.

Courtesy of moejuck. Thanks buddy. Pours with copper core and gold edges with off white head. The aroma is full of hard orange candy, pine resin and a hint of dark fruity esters in the background. The taste is smooth and yummy with citrus orange to pine resiny goodness. It quickly moves toward mildly sweet grape jam, a hint of raisins and prunes. The dark fruity esters are much lighter in flavor than are the bittering hops. Very nice American style barleywine. Yum.

courtesy of ibrew2or3 pours brown Aroma has a good note of the floral hops and caramel malts. taste is malty and sugary with good balance of the hops - floral - finish is lightly bitter. Not bad.

Bottle, courtesy IBrew2or3. Hazy cloudy mango pour, thick head and lacing. Nose has big hops, caramel, some banana and clove. Big caramel flavors, piney hops, some brown sugar. Bitter finish, creamy body, smooth and drinkable.

Murky copperish orange, creamy nitro-head. Solid barley wine, bright flavored. Full bodied, creamy. Some sweetness, but for the most part this is a hop bomb, especially towards the end. A good example although I like my barley wines on the hotter and maltier side.