Cambridge Arquebus

Brewed by Cambridge Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

It poured a ruby caramel creamy color with a small tan head that quickly faded. The nose is fantastic...honey, chardonney grapes, peach, mango, suttle spices, nuts, and oak. The taste starts vinos in nature, alcohal is warming but not really apparent at 10.5%. This beer has loads of tannins that make you smack the tongue, and the hop presence is right there to give you some balancing bitterness. The strong malt backbone and the aging in the chardonney barrels are a great compliment making this a smooth sippable brew. I can see why this is called a summer barleywine due to the refreshing nature in terms of carbonation, also the fruit feel on the palate. Anyone that is a fan of barleywines you need to try this brew!

Wow, wow, wow. What sick depth this beer has. Smells mead like with nice honeycomb coming to mind. Taste is incredibly smooth and light bodied. Multi-layered mid pallette involving wine grapes, honey, and mild chard. barrel is exquisite. Nothing is over the top here. Everything is mellow and dances over your tongue revealing all the great depth this beer has to offer. Well done and very original concept.

[Draft @ the brewpub] Poured a lightly hazy, golden amber color with a small, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of vanilla, green grapes, caramel malts, apple, honey, and light alcohol. Taste of caramel, vanilla, light oak, tart chardonnay notes, and a lightly alcoholic finish.

Draft at EBF. Pours a honey amber beer with a thin lacing. Salty malt bill hints of oak and wine. Mild tannins, sweet and tart with some grape and peach. What a weird offering, thanks BrianK for making me try this one.

Bu sur place et fut (9 oz), le 10 juillet 2009. Rousse caramel, pas de collet. arome d’orge malté, fruit sûrettes muries, un peu de réglisse. Goût de fruits sûrette intense, beaucoup de grenolats, loin d’être réchauffante. Une bonne bière forte avec beaucoup de saveur, faite pour l’été, ma meilleur bière local du voyage!

One of my favorites at the 2009 Boulder Strong Ale Festival. This one wasn’t as burly and bold as most beers at the fest, but it was very pleasant, with a mellower complexity. I’m glad it was my first sample. Rust colored and slightly cloudy. Tingly, refreshing texture. Hard cider notes were complemented by a nice and vinous, white wine characteristic. Other notes of oak, pear and apple. Warming in the throat, though alcohol was hidden well. Great stuff.

[stem glass @ the brewpub] Incredible fruity aroma-- apricot, pear, peach.. very intriguing and complex. Dense, full flavors are packed with fruits, solid malt character and some incredibly complex tart acidity (I assume from the Chardonnay barrel). Syrupy, slick mouthfeel. Outstanding, overall.

Draught stemmed/wine glass at the brewpub on 8/22/06.
Minimally hazy, but very thick-looking, auburn-amber with some darker raspberry tints. Head is small, dense and butter colored, holding at partial cover and piling up around the edges. Very sparse carbonation noted in the liquid.
Fruity nose, with rich honey and candied sugar notes in support. The fruits are light, moderately sweet and very playful. Hops are much less challenging than expected, providing a deep, succulent juiciness, very dark and green, with moderate bitterness. No resin, no intense citrus, hooray. You can almost smell the texture, just warm and comforting, no hard crystal malt influences. Peaches, apricots, cherries and very subtle brandy-like notes all emerge upon warming. The barrel character is mostly concealed in the nose, providing just a glimmer of dry wood. But the chardonnay lends much of the fruitiness. So far, we’ve got soft, supple malts, aromatic hops sans acidity/bitterness and barrel character minus the astringent wood tannin....
The flavor, then, is even more stupefying, when it lives up the aroma. Medium-sweet honey-toffee and somewhat earthy caramel notes hang in balance creating a soft texture, as fruits slowly spring forth from everywhere. Peaches, cherries, apples, plums, strawberries; just a plethora of interesting fruits, which are well-integrated with the malt. Hops add just enough bitterness to check the malt, while a deep, lush/green flavor of hop buds sits in the background. But most curious and pleasant, is the carbonation. Wow, I don’t think I have ever had a draught beer with this type of carbonation. I remarked at the time that it tasted like a bottle conditioned Belgian beer. Fantastically minute bubbles are not quite as intense as to be zesty/spritzy, but certainly are tingly. But they’re also not quite as tight as to produce a creamy effect. They just sort of dance about quickly, imparting the fruitiness and hop bitterness quickly, then fairly rapidly fading as to allow the malt comfort to reprise. Alcohol is well-concealed, light warming at best. Awesome. I actually found the wood character to be minimal; the dry, nutty tannin only being felt lightly on the finish. Another lesson on barrel-aging from Will.