Bristol Old No. 23 Barley Wine

Brewed by Bristol Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

Sampled at Dickinsonbeer’s NJ January gathering. reddish orangey cloudy color, tannish foamy head. slightly syrupy malt aroma. low carbonation. malty/syrupy flavor. dryish finish but still malty sweet.

Thanks to Dickinsonbeer for sharing this at the January gathering. Poured a dark clouydy amber with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet caramel and bubble gum. Flavor is light yeasty bubble gum with a hint of pine hops. Not as rich as their IIPA.

Bottle, from trade with snowtiger. Good nose, sweet. Lots of fruit, fig,raisin, plum, orange, grapefruit. Hints of peanut. Hazy orangy brown color, no head, minor lacing. Bitter flavor, sour. Like aroma with grapefruit, burnt grain flavor being the most prominant. Medium body, creamy oily litely fizzy mouthfeel, bitter citrusy finish. ABV bites on finish. Ok, but brash right now. Some mellowing is needed, IMO. Lack of head and somewhat lifeless mouthfeel knocked it down for me.

Little head, and medium red/brown color for a barley wine. Has characteristics of a double IPA. Meaning the rich maltiness with a grapefruit flavor. Along with that, it had a soft balanced hop content and a sweet rasain accent. I like this English interpretation of a barley wine.

No head, clear brown with minimal bubbles. Aroma is spicy, doughy, and sweet. Taste is malty, sweet, and with a big alcohol punch. Hops appear in the finish for a little bit. The beer was a little too hot for me, and somewhat one diminsional. Well made though.

This a barleywine that I could drink a few of, but is too sweet and characterless to drink many of. Most barleywines are too sweet for me, but I can drink them because of the hops or a distinctive flavor of the malts. This one is fig type sweet, but not that distinctive. I like it, I think it will age well, but for now, its a pretty good barleywine. Thanks go to Crosling for this one.

Copper color. Brown sugar, dried fruit and caramel in the aroma. I find the flavor to be very rich and well balanced, although it isn’t as expressive as you would think it would be, considering it’s an 11% barley wine. It has a very nice and well balanced vanilla, mocha and caramel flavor and the hops are pretty subdued, for the ibu’s and hops used. The body is creamy and provides a nice mouth experience. Gotta say I like this beer. Wish another store besides Liquor Max stocked it, so I could stock up the cellar.

Bottle, enjoyed with some hard manchego cheese and black olives.Light chestnut with small diminishing head. When the bottle is opened I picked up a whiff of wet socks worn in sneakers for several hours - however as the aroma evolved it got more pleasant with hints of esters and some alcohol. Flavor is rather balanced to wards a classic English Barleywine, with the hops playing in the background, providing mostly bitterness. Smooth syrupy mouth feel with light carbonation.