CooperSmiths Black Powder Barleywine

Draught at CooperSmith’s. Pours clear amber with an average, fizzy, off-white head, diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel), light hops (flowers, herbs), average yeast (earth) with notes of apple and pear. Medium bodied, creamy texture, soft carbonation, and a bitter finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness.

tap at the brewpub. pour is a deep red like a cloudy ruby with a decent head. smells of alcohol pine, vanilla and caramel. first taste i thought wow, this is grainy. same on the second and third. once i got past that to the other flavors which are mainly booze, some fruits, like banana and oranges, but the husky grain flavor domninated this sweet brew.

Draught. Head is fully diminishing. Body is medium amber. Aroma is lightly malty (caramel, toasted grain), lightly hoppy (resin), with notes of alcohol and toffee. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter, slightly husky. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. A simplistic, alcohol-heavy rendition.

Had this on-tap at the brewery. Poured a light, clear amber without any head. The aroma contained caramel, trace vanilla and raisin with a very strong alcohol note. The flavor started sweet and oddly salty with a long, slightly sweet finish with a heavy alcohol burn. The palate was heavy with a thicky, syrupy texture without any carbonation. Not a bad brew, but nice attributes were masked by the heavy alcohol aroma and flavor. Bummer.

Ruby. Dying head. Nose of molasses, honey, oak, sherry and dark fruits. Well aged and melded malt driven flavor. Notes of caramel and molasses, sherry and dark fruits. Well hidden alcohol. Medium bodied but the texture is fairy watery. Still though, like almost every barley wine, this is pretty damn good.

Big molassis aroma. Dark copper with no head. Very sweet and sticky palate. Big molassis and caramel taste, a little overwhelming. Mild hopping and bitterness in the finish.

Oh, sweet Jesus! I drank way too much of this at the 2003 Steamboat Festival. This one is worth the trip to Ft. Collins for the barleywine lover. If you could imagine the marriage of a chocolate brownie with a fine single malt...well, you've just got to try this one.

The Black Powder poured copper (?, hard to tell at the bar) with a little head that quickly dissipated to a ring. It had a tart alcohol/sherry aroma. I really like the taste. It's smooth and full-bodied with a taste of figs, carmel and oak with an alcohol finish. This is a nice drinkable barley wine that I like to partake of when in season.