Beer Valley Highway To Ale Barley Wine

Brewed by Beer Valley Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Ontario, Oregon USA

Bottle: Amber with a huge, creamy beige head. Citrus and pine resin nose with a sweet toffee element. Some piney hops up front in the taste, but a sweeter, English IPA and toffee/malty thing going on in the tail. Some faded hops and some floral, lively hops. Warming and smooth. Nice.

Bottle shared with JoeTheYounger. I think this is a bit better than the ratings suggest. Pours a murky dark orange with no head but a thin white film. Aroma has loads of caramel and vanilla with some pine and a hint of alcohol. Flavor is very smooth, suggesting that it’s already been aged for a year or two as opposed to being brand new (Bevmo hasn’t had it that long). Sugary and floral, caramel, brown sugar, and dried fruits with a slightly dry finish. Palate is thick and chewy and the soft carbonation provides some creaminess. Very tasty barley wine.

Aged very well. Smells kinda sweet with vanilla. Nice rich malty taste. Very good balance of crazy barley wine taste. Not as harsh as your average barley wine.

Bomber from the always awesome Boise Co-op. Pours a deep amber color with a thick white head and lots of lacing. A nice aroma of light citrus hops and some sweeter malts. A full flavor of soft citrus hops, some caramel malt and very light alcohol. A nice full mouthfeel. Sort of easygoing, but wait this is 10.5%! Oh shit. Well anyway, a nice brew.

Big bountiful head with a brown amber color. Aroma is of sweet caramel candy notes. Yeasty some hop notes also. Some bitterness and hop characteristics in the flavor. Has a strange burning alcohol, moldy flavor right at the end. Flavor characteritics are all over the place. Malt notes here, slight hops, smooth then watery. Might need to age and rest for a while.

Hazy golden orange, one-finger head, good retention and excellent lacing. Strong malt aromas, featuring toast, toffee, and caramel, battle with resinous pine hops aromas that are just as strong. Same thing happening with the taste as brown sugars and grassy hops join the fray. Viscous oily mouthfeel, lots of carbonation, and a very strong, almost acidic aftertaste. I don’t often get the sense of a battle for my attention in a beer, but the conflict between sweets and bitters is palpable here, and I like it.

Bomber from Bottle Barn. Nose has light piney hops, raisins, caramel, and some light alcohol. Lightly hazy rusty-copper with a medium beige head. Flavor is light bitterness, caramel, and pine. Finish is light bitterness with a hint of caramel that fades after about 15 seconds. Like a souped up Bigfoot!

Pours copper with gold edges and off white head. The aroma is very nice with sweet malts that move to caramel and then some restrained resiny pine hops. The taste is smooth with malt sweetness bleeding into caramel notes and increasing pine hops. This is good stuff. I get lots of sweetness that plows more and more into modest pine hop bitterness. It ends with mild pine hanging on into the after taste. This is certainly not one of those BW that seems more like an IIPA. The hops are there but not there, there(?).