Columbus Brewing Barley Wine

Brewed by Columbus Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Columbus, Ohio USA

Draft at the Columbus Microbrew festival. Poured a cloudy gold color. Had a sweet fruitty taste, but was extremely drinkable for a 10% ABV.

2008 version at the Columbus Microbrew Fest. Nice hop character, barely any malt character (pale malt only?) Hazy copper pour. This is not a barley wine, it is an IIPA. Overall: good but no barley wine characteristics, except the hops (American Barley wine). Couldn’t have more than 1 though... no more than 12 ounces.

In short: An extremely drinkable crisp hoppy Barley-Wine
How: Tap at brewpub
The look: Partly cloudy golden orange body with a medium off-white head.
In long: Lots of crisp caramel and lots of bitter leafy hops with some orange zest. This barley wine goes the Sierra Bigfoot way and focuses on drinkability instead of decadence. I had an overall fresh and crisp sensation while drinking my pint. Alcohol very well hidden. Medium carbonation. Surprisingly sold by the pint and not the usual smaller snifter glass that such strong beers are usually served in. to me that probably was the one-too-many pint I had on that night. With a pub serving beers like that by the pint if I was Columbus authorities I would post an officer in front of the pub and repave the entire downtown with all the collected fines.

4/26/08: Firkin version at Barley’s 6th Annual Mini RAF
Bright orange, tranquil body with a perfectly hopped fir tree nose. Fresh pine and citrus flavors nicely balanced with caramel malts. Medium bitter finish. Best in show for me at this year’s Mini.

Firkin version at Barley’s 6th Annual Mini RAF (04/26/08): This brew pours a mostly clear dark amber color with a minimal off-white head that dissipates quickly. Spotty lacing. Rich malt aroma with piney hops underneath. Full body with a strong earthy malt character, along with flavors of hops, citrus and pine. The finish is hoppy with a tart fruit aftertaste. Pretty good all around.

Hazy copper color with a beige head. Aroma of citrus and floral hops. Possibly simcoe? Flavor of citrus hops and sweet malts. Finish of tangy hops. Very good.

On tap at CBC - Poured Amber with a tair tan head that stayed briefly and faded back to a ring. Aromas of big hops upfront nice grapefruit and pine. Flavor is big of hops upfront too almost unexpected very west coastlike hops.. Grapefruit and pine dominate, Caramel malts behind and even a bit of toffee comes through before the bitter finish. Like Tmoney I can say I almost detected rye in this.. It was quite unique. Palate was somewhat on the sticky side and full bodied.. I think this might be the best CBC brew I’ve tried..

On draft at CBC. Cloudy amber color, diminished cream colored head, with light lacing...Smelled sweet and malty. This was a well blended barely wine, I think. Sweet at first, with a slightly hoppy bitter finish, but the hops were NOT over powering at all. This was a very decent barley wine actually!