Beer Valley Highway To Ale Barley Wine

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

A tasty beer overall but this is not at all like the barleywines that I’m used to. More like a boozed-up IPA due to its strong hoppiness, both in flavor and in finish. I expected something a little more sugary, gooey. Nevertheless a very good brew and watch out for the booze creeping up on you, as the 10 1/2% is not at all apparent.

bottle thanks to bu11zeye, amber in color with a caramel, fruity nose, flavor is sour with a buttery caramel flavor, finishes a bit thin

bottle from bu11zeye. light brown pour with a cream head that didn’t last too long. slight alcohol scent with hops, sugar and dried fruits. very easy on the palate with a slight hop finish.

Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Pours with an off-white head, and a slightly hazy amber body. Good lacing. Aroma of honey, hops, caramel, a bit of dark fruits and some berries. Taste of alcohol, hops, and vegital malts. Syrupy mouthfeel, and light bubbles.

Not the biggest molasses aroma, nor much head, but in terms of flavor, I find this absolutely fantastic. I don’t taste the 10.5 at all. It’s better, but I don’t get the strong alcohol presence with it. Overall, I would definitely buy this again, even at 7 or 8 a bottle, like I think this one was. Quite impressed with this brewery.

A reasonable pour into my 25cl tulip glass still manages to produce a dense, four-finger thick, tan colored head. The beer is a rich red / amber color and shows a pretty hazy, light-red tinged, amber color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite hoppy, with herbal hop notes as well as lots of sweet citrus notes, but it also has a sticky malt character to it. Aromas of grapefruit, herbal pine, huge biscuit-like malt, crushed-lightly browned crackers, touches of hot alcohol that mixes in with the sharper hop notes, a bit of a vegetal hop character and a touch of caramelized malt sugars that accentuates the citrus and some fruity notes.

Sweet, yet it has an ample bitterness that tries to hold this in check. Up front the sticky, caramelized malt sweetness is the more dominant, but the finish sees an almost harsh, astringent green hop note and bitterness to it that tries to wipe the palate clean, but doesn’t quite totally dominate the malt. Flavors of pine tar, touches of turpentine even and some hot alcohol notes are quite noticeable, especially more towards the finish. Up front there are some sharp grapefruit zest notes and some bitter orange zest and pith flavors. The body of this brew is not overly heavy, but there is a rich malt body hiding underneath all of the hops; if it wasn’t for the harsh notes this would probably be pretty drinkable.

This is a hugely hoppy and harsh beer; one could argue that it is exceedingly young and it might actually be pretty drinkable in a couple years. Right now though it is just too unbalanced and harsh to be really all that enjoyable.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Hazy deep amber with tiny off white head. Hoppy aroma with caramel and grapefruit notes. Hoppy and sweet flavor with notes of pine, caramel and grapfruit, Ends solid bitter!

My God, this is an earthy bomb. Pours murky orange-brown with a short-lived tan head. Caramel, leather, dirt, wood, pine tar, and wet leaves in the aroma. Chewy mouthfeel. Dense caramel and alcohol up front. Wood, earthy hops, raisins, and pine follow. The taste is huge, bittersweet, and at times overwhelming. If there was a such thing as an Imperial Scotch Ale, this may qualify. Still, something about it made me like it.