Big Sky Olde Bluehair Barleywine

Brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Missoula, Montana USA

bottle thanks to chef201atc. poured amber with a nice beige head. aroma of caramel, peach, spice, and alcohol. flavor was sweet, dark fruit, and som spice. light body with high carbonation. not bad at all.

2008 on draft at Hard Liver Barleywine Fest 09. Big whiskey and oak on nose. Massive toasted coconut and flat cola flavors. Very sweet. Whiskey is not subtle, so if you like whiskey and sweet beer this is for you.

Bourbon Barrel
Tap at Brouwers Hard Liver fest ’09. Deep orange-brown pour, slightly small head than the non-BA version. Really nice charred-wood nose, straight bourbon wood but without the booziness --- quite impressive to say the very least. Good straight-ahead sweet bourbon flavor, caramel, very drinkable and not at all too boozy, just a tiny bit medicinal. Dark fruit, charred wood close.


Non-BA version
Tap at Browers Hard Liver ’09. Pours deep orange brown with a nice full head, really pretty. Full, fruity, lovely aroma. Good mouthfeel, sparkling and lively yet smooth-textured, warm but not too hot. Fairly straightforward caramel-driven flavor but entirely well crafted, recalling Alaska Big Nugget but maybe not quite up to that very high mark. Either way, a terrific beer and a pleasure to drink. Total score 3.9

2008 on tap at Brouwer’s Hard Liver ’09. Pours reddish amber with a thin head. Lots of bourbon and caramel in the nose and in the flavor. Toward the finish it gets intensely bitter and smoky. Thick mouthfeel. Interesting, but I don’t know how much I’d want to drink.

Hard liver fest. small head, deep reddish brown hue. really sweet aroma, sugars a plenty with a little wood. taste is very sweet, almost candy-like.

Bottle thanks to chef201atc. Pours a deep amber with a beige head. Aroma of some faint dark fruit and alcohol. Flavor is sweet, some dark fruit. Mouth feel is heavy body, low-medium carbonation. Over all, some good shit....

On tap at Brouwer’s Hard Liver Barley Wine Fest (distinguished from the normal Blue Hair on the tap list). Pours a reddish copper with a small head. Sweet malts dominate, with oak, bourbon, a slight amount of hops... it smells and tastes darker than it is, and there’s far more bourbon in the aroma than in the flavor. Full bodied, and very drinkable. Great - one of my favorites from the festival.

Bottle thanks to chef201atc. Dark copper in color with a large beige head. Aroma is of pie crust, caramel, nuts, malt and toast. Taste is of malt, honey, booze, caramel, and toffee.