Bluegrass Bearded Pats Barleywine Style Ale

Brewed by Bluegrass Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Louisville, Kentucky USA

~RBSG ’08~

Bottle at the Grand Tasting. Pours a caramel brown color, with a hazy white head and nice lacing. Caramel and chocolate in the nose, with some sweet fruit and slight smoke. Caramel flavors, chocolate, slithering hops and brown sugar. Tasty, smooth, very good. Nice representation of the style from a pretty small brewery.

I popped the cap and was surprised to find absolutely no psssht of escaping CO2. After that, it’s not a surprise that there’s no head (although from reading the posts it seems that I’m not the only one with a flat beer, but there are apparently also bottles out there that kept the air in. All that being said, this isn’t a bad beer. There’s a distinct fruity sweetness with pear and the fresh dates from my palm. There’s actually a bit of the tingle on the tongue from carbonation, but no visible signs.

Bottle from Squire’s. Pours hazy ruby with 1-finger off-khaki head. Nose is immense; a mix of caramel malt, vinous fruit, port wine, nuts, brown sugar, oaky bourbon. Tastes caramel malty, fruity, with notes of red grapes, brown sugar, figs, oaky bourbon, spices, hops, and cognac. Rich, complex from beginning to end, this one was a true joy to drink.

Pours a dark amber color with nearly no head. aroma was fruity and sweet with a noticable amount of hops to it. Flavor was a sweet maltiness to it with a smack of bitterness in the finish. Alcohol was nicely hidden. OVerall a very good barleywine.

Aroma of brown sugar and raisins. An amber brown pour with an off white head and lace. Flavor of dried fruit and a very nice finishing bitter. Full bodied palate and good carbonation. A very solid BW that has the hints of sweet that stand out to me as a plus.

750 ml. in pint glass. No head at all, dark amber brown, little to no carbonation. Doughy, sweet, honey, and malt. Flavors are typical of barley wine, good and doughy but way too sweet. One good point, the sweetness hides the alcohol very well. Nice thick and doughy on the palate; smooth and soft with little to no carbonation. Overall: this beer is out of balance but has potential if the brewers adjusted their recipe; worth a try at only 6 and change for a 750 ml. at 10.5. I could only find it at the St. Matthews brewpub though.

Bottle via unclejedi, thanks Jim!! Pours a hazy reddish-brown color with a thick creamy tan colored head. Aroma is sweet malts, floral hops, brown sugar. FLavor is again sweet malts, floral hops, brown sugar, dark fruits, maybe some woody notes. Palate is full bodied, mild carbonation, finished sweet with a blast of bitter hops. Wow, this is really nice stuff.

Thin light orange head of fine and dense bubbles. Minimal carbonation. Lots of piney hops, rubber, sweet caramel malts and some wood. Color is a hazy ruby brown. Interesting flavor. Loaded with hops. Lots of medicinal qualities along with some licorice, caramel, pine sap and some smoke notes. Pretty powerful stuff. Finishes hot and sweet and resinous. Lost of nasal alcohols and hops presence. This is actually better than I expected but still not a great barleywine though. Seems very unrefined. Thanks to etowneraser for this one.