Bluegrass Bearded Pats Barleywine Style Ale

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

January 2002 bottle. DAMN! This is almost 3 years old and I just got the bottle. I didnt even realize the date when I first looked at this bottle. Thought I was going to have to age this one for a while, so this is a very pleasant surprise. Thanks a ton Jay (springslicker) this is an awesome bonus!! Immediately upon opening, a burst of aroma rushes up to greet me! Wow, this is one intense aroma. Huge amounts of the good stuff; roasted barley, toffee, sweet candied fruits, an earthy, yet sweet, rich malt base that you can inhale deeply. This is what a good barleywine should smell like. No bitter hops, no citrus, awesome!!! Transluscent body, low filtration evident! Deep cherry red, auburn and dark orange with a small but firm, creamy off-white/beige head. Lacing as well. Oh wow. Flavor delivers!!! You’ve got a mix of dry, roastiness with plenty of English toffee. I think English toffee may be my favorite flavor in barleywines, and this has lots of it. It’s dry, grainy, slightly vinous, and just full of flavor. Light chocolate, raisins, figs, plums and a HUGE yeast apparency. Earthy, dusty yeastiness abounds. Reminds me much of Kuhnhenn’s Fourth Dementia Old ale. Hint of saltiness, some alcohol notes bounce around on the palate. The alcohol get a bit too pervasive on the finish, but that is one of the only complaints I have here. Dry, earthy, woody flavor. NO HOPS!!!!! Wow, I love it when you don’t even feel the hops. This is about as British as it gets for an American brewed barleywine. Fantastic stuff and perfectly aged. Mostly smooth body, with some traces of tingly carbonation. Medium-full body with slight thinning on the end (oxidation). Where has this beer been all of my life??? Next question, how do I get a case of this!!! Thanks so much Jay, this was phenomenal.

Copper brown ake with a foamy off-white head. Raisinous alcohol aroma with a bit of wet dog thrown in. Explosions of flavours in mouth, sweet demera sugars, alcohol, resinous hops and licorice. Complex bodied. Wow!

01 Nov 07, BW Tasting. 750mL bottle, thanks to KP! Slight haze, deep reddish brown color. Aroma of swweet cherries and heavy malts. lots of caramel. Flavors of cherry, toffee. Hop bitterness in the finish. Very balanced. Good Stuff.

(12oz bottle) Pours a medium-sized, frothy head with an orange-brown body. Nose of English salted licorice candy, raisins, horseblanket, salty, and prunes. Flavour is of sweet malt, chinook hops and oily. None of the 10.5% alcohol is detected in the palate. Excellent stuff! Many thanks to Lubiere for sharing this from a recent trip to Indianapolis.

2003 12 oz bottle. Cloudy brown color with a small but dense head. Aroma of rich chocolate immediatly jumps out at you begging for immediate attention. Taste is booming in alcohol quickly mellowed with sweet caramel and toffee. An awesome barleywine. I’d love more.

Deep, rich, russet brown color, with a thick, toasted tan head sitting proudly atop. Aroma, a wonderful thing, the very nose I look for in a barleywine, with burnished fruit, spice, heat, very malty, very sweet...I like it! Taste: hoppy at first, then bursting with fruit, but thick and twisted, roasted, spicy and wicked. Full, lush malt...full-bodied, unrelenting flavor. Great complexity in this brew, with abundant flavor, and warmth, mouth-filling with an over-generous taste. Quite a nice barleywine, a Southern rival to Bigfoot, I think. Yum, I loved this one six ways to Sunday! The 3rd Bluegrass brew I’ve had without once meeting Dissappointment!

Bottled Jan 02, drank Aug 02: Powerful alcohol/hop nose that has some pine notes. Orange/brown color with a slight cloudiness. Syrupy mouthfeel, ends bitter and long.

Tasted at the Barrelhouse Brewing Company Microbrew Fest on November 9. This was a pretty good Barley Wine. It was a deep dark orange color with a thin beige head. Pointed barley aroma, with equal parts malt and alcohol in the flavor. Overall this was a strong, complex, and very good beer.