Dark Horse 3 Guy Off the Scale Old Ale

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Marshall, Michigan USA

Courtesy RogueOne, 2008 release. Slightly cloudy copper color with almost no head. Sweet aroma with alcohol, burnt caramel, honey, raisin notes. Thick palate. Rich caramel malts, some spicy alcohol, a background hop presence. Sweet and rich, but not cloying to me. Would be nice to see how this does over a couple years.

12 oz. (2008) bottle - thanks to pepsican for the hook up on this one; pours flat, dark ruby orange; mostly clear; aromas are a grainy, danky mix of fruit, sugar and alcohol; very strong and sweet with a level of sweetness along the lines of 120 min. or double tree; thin body, but a rich, creamy finish as it goes down; like a big punch in the face; wow

Courtesy Rogueone. Pours an amber brown that is very cloudy. Big caramel aromalots of sweet brown sugar. Smooth brown sugar, sweet malt, citrusy hops and lots of alcohol. Greta finish, really nice.

Vintage 2008. The most resilient wax cap ever. Imposing, misty magenta-red hue. First aroma is a sharp and tangy soy sauce-chile sauce-brown sugar marinade. Rum-raisin oatmeal cookies, wildflower honey, and sherry vinegar provide a delirious and rambling kind of sweetness that manages to compose itself quite carefully, wrapping up into simple brown sugar and molasses. An erudite construction of old wood, spirit, dried cherries and dried caramel lending must and an aged impression. Wholly fat and malty, big and boozy, but not careless. Still seems a bit pungent and salty in the end, which is something close to off-putting.

Flavor brings more of this heated gingerbread cake and molasses and sugary dark vinegar infusion. It’s really fat. More noticeably, though, there’s a a lighthearted current of citrus that cuts through consistently; while the typical american barleywine might cling too readily to the bold bittersweetness of the citrusy hops, this uses that flavor with meticulous care as a counterweight to all that dense malty substance, and it’s quite a success. The hops are floral and soft, not brash and resinous, with tones of lavender and apricot skins while the malt builds a supple center of dried fruits, toffee, dates and licorice. Hugely hot, but the complexity of all these flavors is simply stratospheric and blindsiding even amidst the heat.

A thick, syrupy texture, chewable and frothy; lightly carbonated, dried out with alcohol. Warm, intense finish yields quiet flavors of red licorice and cassis liqueur, that draw out with a silky slowness, lazily drying and washing a minty alcohol over the back. The marriage of flavors in this barleywine is unique and memorable, while the velvety spirit-like character of its alcohol volume seems fitting to complement those flavors rather than forced into the equation for its own sake. Man, that’s impressive. Thanks Mike!

pours hazy dark amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is heavly malty of cookies, hay, cereal, toasted malts and carmel. Flavor starts heavy sweet, and malty of dark fruit, carmel, figs and alcohol, finish is much the same a bit less sweet but hot alcohol.

Courtesy Rogueone. POurs a lightly hazy amber color, with pretty much no head. Smells of light bready yeast, big dark fruits, molasses, and caramel malt. Wow, didnt realize this was 15% til now. Really not huge on the alcohol presence for how big it is. Pretty good job of masking it, although it was definitely noticeable. A bit syrupy on the palate, the heavy malt presence dominated along with the alcohol. Pretty good.

6-18-08 bottle shared with lb4lb thanks to masonjer and d0b
Hefty amber brown thick pour with a thin creamy beige head. Smellis nice light malt. Flavor is hot and thick almost syrupy alcohol. Medium body and syrupy finish.

Courtesy Rogueone. Pours a murky, ruby-brown color. Aroma is dates, figs, raisins, burnt orange rind, caramel. Flavor is not sweet, as the aroma would lead you to believe. in fact, it is almost toasty. Way to drinkable for 15%.