BridgePort Old Knucklehead

Brewed by BridgePort Brewing (Gambrinus Company)
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Old Knucklehead pours to a beautiful, bright, mahogany color with a slight tan head, and virtually no carbonation, it is almost a still liquid. The nose on this beer is fantastic. Sweet malt aromas of fresh bread, toffee, and butter scotch marry with some piney hop aromas, and waves of peppery alcohol. The palate is rich, complex, and warming. Big sweet malt flavors of fresh bread, butter scotch, toffee, and vanilla coat the tongue. The body is very viscous, slick and syrupy. This beer finishes with more big sweet malt up front then dries out with a slight bitter hop bite, and a long, warming, high octane burn. Barleywines are potent brews, they weigh in at about 9%-11% abv, and will take the chill out of the coldest of bones. This beer is the perfect night cap. A great beer to sip on a cool evening while reading a book next to a snug fire. I wouldn’t match this beer with food, but if you choose to, do so with desert. This beer would go great with butter scotch pudding, custard, or even cheese cake.

Pours ruby with no head. Aroma is sweet molasses. Flavor is much the same. VERY full bodied, wow, this sucker just coats the whole mouth like cough syrup. Decent flavor but lacks complexity.

Pours a deep dark brown color. Aroma smells like I opened an old steamer trunk, yeasty, musty, moldy. Flavors of yeast, peppery spice, and alcohol. Didn’t like this one at all.

Bottle- 03 vintage- Batch 11- Pours a clear dark amber/crimson color. Small whtie head. Aroma is dark cherry soda, buttermilk biscuits, tofee and a little alcohol and cherry juice tickles the nose. Flavor starts sweet and goes into a very creamy tofee malt thing. Lots of cinnamon and caramel.

2003 Bottling, Batch 11. Thanks to Matt for sharing. The beerr pours to a mahogany body with a strange large white ring head. Spotty wet lacing. The aroma is sweet dark fruits, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar. The flavor has some muted Big Red gum flavors, balanced sweet malts, dry oaky/woody

Reddish brown with a tan head that stays only as a reminder that this beer is different. Very complex and strong alochol taste, which was not expected with the sweet sugary aroma. The fruity taste subsides to the hoppiness for a bitter finish. Not a bad beer, but watch how much of it you drink!

Bottle - 2003 - Batch No. 11. Pours bronze with an edgy tan head. Caramel malt brown sugar sweet aroma with yeast (dough) and fruit hops, cinnamon. Hoppy acidic malt and toffee flavor with alcohol notes. Medium bodied and dry, fizzy palate.

Bottle - 2003 - Batch 011. Pours a deep reddish brown with a thin light tan head. Citrus aroma. Sweet malt flavor balanced with hop bitterness, followed by an alcohol burn. A little thin.