Beermanns Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

Brewed by Beermanns Beerwerks Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Lincoln, California USA

Bottle: Holy crap Pud rated a beer!!! Thanks Joe for sharing this one: Pours a deep copper color with a light tan head. Aroma, vanilla oak and some bourbon notes, caramel. Flavor, sweet oaky, caramel, vanillla, a bit chewy, and there was a trace of oxidation. I was underwhelmed.

First off, I can’t believe Puddintane now has a rating! Now onto the beer--bottle from Stoutlover, thanks! Aroma of herbal tea with hints of caramel. Deep, deep mahogany body with a medium head. Medium palate. The taste is of wort, some oak and faint caramel malts. Overall this is a weak barleywine with little to offer.

Shared by moejuck. First rating after waiting so long...A nice deep amber/light mahogany pour. Aroma of slight bourbon, slight oxidation, dried fruits, oak. Taste is of weak hop bitterness, slight oak/bourbon, a little boozy, caramel malt, dried fruits. Medium bodied with a slight syrup feel. In the end forgettable but not terrible.

Date: February 21, 2004
Mode: Bottle
Appearance: clear dark amber
Aroma: sweet burbon and buttery carmel malt aroma
Flavor: rich sweet malt flavor, touch of carmel, hint of raison, light bitter finish

Date: February 03, 2007
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Appearance: gusher
Aroma: musty dry caramel aroma
Flavor: tart and bitter flavor in an infected way
Overall: unrateable, leaving original score

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Score: **4

The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

Bottle; 2006; #144. Aroma of wood and malt. Ruby, orange, brown color with a beige head that died attempting to lace. Medium bodied; creamily carbonated. Something of mildewed wood, vanilla, scorched pumpkin flesh, uncertain stone fruit, heat, and always a nice level of hoppy bitter. The finish is almost dirt, but dry, and heat and bitter. Some of the individual elements would normally be rather disgusting, but having them come at one in rapidity lends interest. The blend works. The mouth and palate adapt. I could drink this indefinitely.

20061111 Sampled at Cornboy’s 1st Annual Barley Wine Extravaganza
#16 2003 (?) Hugely woody, lingering funk, and cherry stem fruit/wood/astringency typify this brew. Totally unique and beautiful. Tremendous use of wood.

Magic Porch 2006 courtesy of 1FastSTi. 2005 batch, bottle #496. Wow, much lighter of a bourbon aroma and taste than I was expecting. Almost to the point that it’s a bit watered down. Poor head and lacing. Butterscotch and toffee hints what this could have been. Just an overall flat and uninteresting beer. Pass on this one.

I have tasted numerous vintages of this beer and it changes from batch to batch, year to year. It’s fun to cellar some and see how it changes after a couple of years....