Butte Creek Train Wreck

Brewed by Butte Creek Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Chico, California USA

Bomber. Pours amber-orange with a large, lasting off-white head. Aroma is caramel malt with a noticeable bit of roast, and bit of light fruitiness with citrus hops. Flavor is quite woody with resiny citrus hops up front, with a bit of caramel and toffee malt in the background. Odd beer. Malt is a whole bunch of flavors, some complementary and some strange; the hops are somewhat aggressive initially and yet at times seem absent; and it’s not too clear where this is going. Smidgen too much of alcohol. Despite all that, it manages to be rather pleasant to drink, and I’d definitely buy it again.

Sampled at the Hopsnobbery Collective barley wine tasting on 3.14.09. Clear amber pour with a medium beige head. Malty caramel aroma with a touch of hop. A bit of hop flavor up front with caramel malt and more subtle hop in the finish. One of the better offerings of the evening.

The bottle says you will be lucky to walk away from this.....the beer says I am not that big of a beer. Seriously though, this beer is nice and malty with a decent hop bitterness. caramel and toffee notes and really more drinkable then lots of barley wines. For this price it is hard to beat.

Bottle. Hazy red-orange with little head. Rusty chewy aroma is earthy, minerally, with lots of fruit after that and caramelized backed apples. Chewy mouthfeel. Caramelized dough, oat bran muffin, and metallic. Not my thing.

Bottle. Cloudy amber pour. Small head. Aroma has some sweetness with notes of honey balanced by some citrus hops. Flavor is well balanced. Sweet honey notes, apple juice, and hops come together very well. It was a tiny bit hot, but not enoug to stop me from really enjoying it.

2008 Bottle - Last bottle of the tasting so notes are a bit scribbley...Pours reddish amber with a medium off white head...aroma is high fruit, high citrus hop...flavour is pretty straight forward, 1-2 punch of pine and caramel malt...definite fire in this bottle that may or may not mellow, but good to try...

Very pungent malty aroma. Not a bad aroma. A big haze look with this beer. Not much head on it. Whoa, a very strong taste of alcohol. I generally like some malt with my alcohol, but the alcohol just blasts my tongue. It doesn’t have a horrible taste, but it is not good. I just think the alcohol taste is not hidden at all. I have had strong barley wines, with 12+ abv, but there were other flavors. This one just has an alcohol bitterness, not even a hop bitterness. I just think they missed when it came to using hops and malts.

Bottle from Whole Foods. Pours an opaque orange amber with oily, spotty lacing and a tiny rim of froth for a head. The aroma is sweet with citrus and piney hops. Flavors are blatantly boozy with a strong alcoholic presence and notes of pine resin, subtle caramel, nuts, and green apple. Medium carbonation and full body. Not bad, but they could have tried to hide ther ABV better for an easier drink.