Butte Creek Train Wreck

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

It’s been about 15 months since I purchased the bottle. I don’t know if it’s significantly worse fresh, but this is a big, rich barleywine at this point and it’s quite nice. The beer is a pretty standard red-tinged amber with a small head fading to a bit of lacing. The aroma is particularly good - vanilla, caramel malt, a touch of lingering citric hops, cognac around the edges and an almost koelsch-like vinous quality. The grape aroma is all sweet, little champagne grapes and adds a lot. The flavor has that silky, smooth sweetness of residual sugars that have slowly oxidized. The mouthfeel could be a touch creamier but it’s still good. It’s really quite nice at this point. I almost want to try a fresh bottle to understand some of the lower scores. I’m not sure why this beer would rate lower than Old Guardian or Green Flash’s barleywine.

Bomber from Whole Foods (Tampa, FL). Pours a clear reddish copper color with a one finger white head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of booze, caramel, toffee, raisins, hints of dark ripe fruit, molasses. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of phenol, caramel, honey, toffee, light floral hops. Generally medium body with a pleasing malty finish. This one smells better than it tastes.

22oz bottle shared courtesy of Josh. Poured a medium and clear amberish color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of dark fruits and caramel. Tastes of dark fruits, caramel, some grassiness, and toffee. Thinner body.

Pours a translucent amber with lots of golden notes and a smaller bubbly off white. Aroma of dark fruits, caramel, toffee and brown sugar. Flavor of dark fruits, caramel, toasted malt, toffee, lots of hop bitterness. Bitterness really lingers.

Cloudy, brownish amber with a thin white head. Caramel and sugar in the nose. Sweet, rich malt flavor. A touch of malt fruitiness with a subtle hop tang. Finish is a little on the twangy side. Pretty good.

Bomber- somehow I think I was drinking this with Beastiefan2k a couple years ago from the look of the post it note found in my pile. Pours a nice deep amber with a thinning fizzy head. Aroma is very sweet, toasted malts, caramel malts, molasses, brown sugar, and fruity esters with slight hops. Flavor is toffee caramel, weak and watereed down overall and the hops get a bit grassy and astringent. Finish is spicy with a good kick of alcohol burn. Not a trainwreck, but not that great.

Bottle. Reddish amber pour with very little beige head. Aroma is vanilla tobacco and rich dark fruit / fig. Sort of acidic palate, but good dark fruit / fig flavor. Vanilla tobacco undertones in flavor and mild alcohol and bittering hops in the finish. Better than I thought it would be.

Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy amber color with a small off-white head. Has a malty dark fruit and hoppy bitter aroma. Sweetish malty hoppy bitter flavor with some hints of dark fruit and caramel. Has a dry malty hoppy bitter finish with a long bitter aftertaste.