Berkshire Holidale

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Well, I wouldn’t have called this a barley-wine - maybe instead an American Strong Ale. The hops blend very well with the sweetness, which is of cane sugar and honey. The hops are also very pleasantly bitter. It looks great too, a small soapy head over a mahogany body. Some banana esters in the finish, but its not the most prominent character. The aroma is strong of malts, with some chalkiness.

Medium amber pour, with a lightly fizzy body and pretty much no head - aroma of cookie dough, brown sugar, molasses, and some mild winter/christmas spices (the aroma reminds me of baking christmas cookies as a kid....a lot) - a bit of sweet maple syrup up front, followed quickly by the same qualities in the aroma, dominated mostly by brown sugar, with a slight cookie quality - mild, drying spices arrive later, along with a cleaner, lighter sweetness, like pure cane sugar - alcohol warmth crops up near the finish, adding a rum-like flavor - a little thin in the finish, making the alcohol burn a little bit more than is welcome, but otherwise this is an original and enjoyable barleywine.

Bottle. ’06 Pours a clear reddish light borwn color with hardly any head. Nose is a mix of fruit and alcohol. Flavor is golden raisins, apples macerating with turbinado sugar. This was a very enjoyable winter sipper. Sweetness and light and pretty much everything right in this barleywine.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Tan head recedes to skim surface and hug rim. Tear lacing. Alcohol aromas. Sweet and sticky with a lasting alcohol finish.

Bottle. Pours a brown-copper body with a small white head. Pungent fruity caramel aroma with sugar and rye notes. Faint bitterness in the body with orange, sweet apricot, and raisiny flavour. Not too bad but it isn’t too memorable.

Cloudy redish-copper body with a medium off-white head. Sweet and alcohol on the nose. Despite a strong taste the body feels airy and the beer lacks complexity. Some dark fruits, some mushrooms, cakeish malts, some out-of-place citrusy hops. The beer also had a greasy feeling!?! This beer lacked cohesion and wasn’t even a Barley Wine. Berk Holidale.

Tasted at YeHA! 2006 in Montreal. 2005 vintage. App.: med. copper, clear, sl. greenish hues in the head. Aroma: fairly sweet malt, raisins and dried fruits, piney/grapefruity hops in the background. Pal.: med.-full body, med.-low carbonation. Flav.: grapey, dried fruits, sweet, much like the nose minus the hops. A little bitter and alcoholic to finish.

Bu au YeHa! 06. Version 2005. Brun orange, peu de collet. Arome très licoreux, un peu fruité. Goût licoreux, sucré et rien d’autre.