Better Bitters Left Hook Barley Wine

Formerly brewed at Better Bitters Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Burlington, Canada

Dark reddish brown with no head, soda-style carbonation. Strongly leafy in the nose, caramel, fruit punch. Thick without being syrupt. I detect dried fruit, maybe pineapple. Pleasant, but ultimately nothing great here.

[769-20071020] Cask @ Volo Cask Days 2007 (Toronto, ON). Sweet burnt leafy caramel aroma like week-old oven burn. Clear, amber red body with a quick off-white head. Sweet malt whiskey without the tang flavour has caramel floral fruit notes. Smooth medium body. Alcohol is hidden.

On Cask at Volo , Canada
Appearance :Clear amber red with small long lasting tanned top. 3+
Nose : Light hint of smoked dry wood, ripe fruit , meadow hop with drying alcohol followed by dark malt whiff.
Flavour/Palate :Medium light bodied with semi-oily textures. Sour front shown with alcohol but not to dry. Fairly thin for Barley ale . Some chewy citric end. Barley that need more substance.

Cask at Volo Cask Days 2007. Clear amber with a tiny, bubbly head. Aroma of sweet malt and a bit of booze. Thin body. Flavour is sweet, with notes of toffee and licorice, and a very quick finish. Not a bad beer, and surprisingly mild given the alcohol percentage, but it lacks the bosy and character of a real barley wine.

Cask at ’Volo Cask Days ’07’. Pours a clear orange-amber with a spare diminishing off-white head. Decent aroma of sweet malt, sugar, fruit and faint hops. Watery flavour of mild malt and fruit. Alcohol’s well hidden though. Not awful by any means but a Barley Wine?

Cask. At Volo Casks Days ’07. Okay, I wasn’t expecting much, I admit. Clear copper pour with a small frothy head. Aroma of oxidized apple cores, dry stale hops and moderate alcohol. This, slightly sour taste, mildly boozy, a little woody, again the apple cores - tastes a lot like a watered-down Old Ale. Thin, slightly dishwater-sour mouthfeel, quite flat and lifeless, with a wan, sour linger. Ehhh.

Cask. Copper-auburn body with a bubbly ring of head. Aroma of apples and sweet malts. Light cocoa and cherry flavours in a soft creamy body. Alcohol warmth is probably the only extreme feature of this beer. This stuff definitely lacks any hop character....

Reddish brown, no head. Fruity aroma. Taste was fruity with absolutely no alcohol or spice, or really any hops to speak of. This was straightforward malt with some fruit and sweetness. Very drinkable, but there was nothing here at all to indicate Barleywine. A disappointment.