Boulder Beer Killer Penguin Barleywine

Brewed by Boulder Beer Company
Style: Barley Wine
Boulder, Colorado USA

Draft at Chef Paul’s- 11 oz snifter. Was expecting more from this one- faint aroma of sweet malt, but nothing stood out. Taste was odd at first- very earthy, funky. As it warmed, got some of the hops and bitterness, but overall for a barleywine this was on the lighter side.

2009 vintage purchased at Nugget in Woodland, CA. Aroma is lightly vinous and caramelly without much in the way of hops or anything else, for that matter. Transparent red-orange body with a small, faint, quickly dissipating off yellow head. Kind of sweet to start, before it becomes a little metallic and floral in the middle. Finishes with a little ethanol and some bitterness. Pretty straight forward, and kind of boring.

Amber/brown body with a small, lasting head and tiny spots of lacing all around. Sweet caramel and nutty malt aromas followed up by more of a candy sweetness, fairly one dimensional. Smooth and medium to lighter in body for the style, damn drinkable. Malt forward flavor of caramel, toffee, mild nuts and a residual sweetness. Seemed more akin to a Strong Ale in it’s simplicity.

Pours hazy copper with a decent beige head and a funky metallic aroma. The flavor is sweet but harsh with a warming alcohol trail. It’s an interesting brew, but not particularly tasty.

Pours Light amber color, with a medium head. Aroma is a rotten sour smell that is faint and hard to identify. The taste is rather sweet, with a hint of bitterness. cannot tell this is a 10% beer. Pretty decent barleywine. Don’t give up on it just based on the aroma, I would even recommend to taste before you smell.

22oz bottle. 2009. Pours a clear, brighter copper-amber colored body with a finger-width, creamy, tan head that dissipates slowly and leaves a good amount of lacing. Aroma is pretty weak. Some cereal grains, dried cherries, dark caramels, and some earthy pineapples. Flavor is clearly more present than the aroma, but still fairly timid. Thinner, dark caramels with a sweeter citrus pine. Some dried cherries, a light resin, syrupy cookies, and a good amount of earth. Finishes with a light booze and fairly dry. Sweeter, syrupy caramel cookie aftertaste with an earthy, mild citrus. Medium body and warming in the throat. Overall, a pretty unremarkable barleywine. No real aromatic qualities and a flavor that fails to impress. Its not out of balance, but everything never seems to completely come together. I wouldn’t anticipate age doing a lot for this either. Eh...

Aroma has some pineapple aromas, probably off the yeast. Amber but very filtered. Mild barley wine.

Bottled 2007 vintage via and shared with mnurda. Copper in colour with fairly low carbonation. Aromas are of cereal and caramel malts, stewed fruit, black pepper, and a bit of sherry. Fairly malt forward in the mouth with more rich caramel malts combining with elements of floral hops, pitted fruit, and a hint of chocolate. Heavy bodied and very mellow. Starting to show its age, but in a good way. An above average barleywine, but one that could have used a bit stronger hop character to add some complexity.