Deschutes Mirror Mirror Barleywine

Brewed by Deschutes Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Bend, Oregon USA

Taster at Seattle International Beer Festival. Best barleywine I’ve had to date. Amber color with no head. Smells of malts, caramel, slight pepperiness. Tastes more of the same, finishing with a pleasant caramel taste.

Bought at Whole Foods in Sacramento. Pours a dark brown with tan head. Full bodied, more like a dessert wine. Sweet of the malts, but also oaky and slightly bitter from the hops. However, maltiness and oak is most prevalent. Warm feeling and satisfying.

2009 bottling.

Tap at Naked City. Deep amber-brown pour with a lovely head but relatively little aroma (to be fair: this followed a pint of Pliny the Elder). Very nice, very smooth and mellow flavor of sweet toffee and vanilla, whispers of wood. Extremely drinkable and only very modest head. Nice job by Deschutes. I look forward to the ’05 and ’09 bottles in my cellar.

Bottle at ACBF. Aroma of overripe fruit, toffee, earth. Flavor big and sweet with lots of toffee and not much else aside from standard barley wine sweet malt and general fruitiness. It tasted good to be sure, but there was also very little to grab onto.

2009 bottle. The pour was a clear, dark amber color with an off-white head that settled quickly offer only streaks of lace. The aroma was English malt, hops that smelled of tea and faint citrus and some unchecked alcohol. The flavor is sugary sweet malts, disappointingly thin hops, oak and alcohol. The mouthfeel is thinner than I anticipated. Will probably be better in a year or two.

Deschutes Mirror Mirror is a very clear, dense, red ale with a thin, dense, light khaki head that shows great retention and lacing. It has a woodsy, piny aroma. The hops are stronger than the malt in the nose. There’s a light note of toffee. It’s full bodied, smooth and fluffy until the dry, astringent finish comes. It tastes pretty sweet, but it’s well balanced with a wooden, resiny, oaken bitterness. It’s quite drinkable.

On tap at Portland Pub - (2005 and 2009 side by side). Both are a red amber color with a thin tan head. Aroma on both is oak and caramel, with some tart fruit. 2009 flavor is dark fruit, oak, alcohol, caramel, a little overly sweet. 2005 had mellowed out the sweetness and was much more complex, spicy was better defined. I bought two bottles of 2009 to age.

2009’ Reserve. Color is a deep ruby with good carbonation and a small tight tan head. Aroma is a sweet wine like scent with a hint of oak in the back. Taste is sweet and fruity. Starting with a bold medium body it goes down smooth with an almost creamy feel. Finish comes in sweet with plums, orange and toasted caramel then a faint sour with some hop spice and a touch of bitterness. After taste is more bitterness that hang on for a while. This is an excellent Barleywine with big flavors that are very well balanced and although its 11% abv there is none to be detected.