Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

Brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Milton, Delaware USA

(Bottle thanks to hopscotch) Pours reddish orange amber with a cloudy brown yeast feature. Small sand colored head. The aroma is sweet and sugary with tones of fresh, yet tart, fruity white wine, maple syrup, figs, caramelized white sugar, passion fruits, violets, fresh peaches, fresh pears and honey melon. Hop brings tones of flowers and sweet orange/tangerine citrus with maybe just a whisper of herbs. Nice alcohol fruitiness is also present. The flavour is fresh fruity with a nice clean alcohol sting that surprisingly enough makes the beer even fresher and cleaner. Tones of various melons, passion fruit, pears, peaches, woody/floral/citric hops, light sticky caramel and big time toast. Medium sweet with an acidic sting to balance it to perfection. Medium bitter. The mouthfeel is soft, round and full with just the right amount of stickiness. The finish is numbing from the alcohol with a white grape tartness alongside some lime. Medium to full bodied. A very special Barley Wine that is more about the fresh fruit than the dried and dark fruits.

[2007 bottle] Pours a dark orange with an amber tint and a minimal beige froth. Strong sugary malty aroma, some fruity yeast and some esters. Caramel and cotton-candy first taste, some earthy bitterness and banana esters. A bit perfumey. The dates are actually quite noticeable, as is what seems like orange-liquor. Bitter alcohol finish, nutty sweet dates. Medium/full sticky, very chewy, body with fluffy carbonation. I have another 07 that maybe I’ll give at-least 3 or 4 years ... I can see this, like most other DFH strong beers, aging wonderfully.

2002 Vintage Bottle, at the Shenandoah Beer Throwdown, thanks argo0! Copper body, with small white head, and cloudy with some floaties. Aroma is caramel, oak, smoke, peach, plum, hoppy and a little earthy. Flavor sweet, sticky, and similar to the aroma, hops matured very well, alcohol in aftertaste. EXCELLENT BEER that aged very well.

From a bottle poured dark amber color with a fair amount of head. Very sweet flavor with an alcohol finish.

Poured an amber color with an off white head. Aroma was composed of very sweet malts and dark fruits, and hops, and alcohol. Flavor was a extremely sweet, just enough hops to balance it out and hide the enormous ABV.

2005 vintage Bottle thanks to dchmela!! Aroma of sweet dark dried fruits, caramel, old leather, and winter spice. Very good and delicate. Pours a gorgeous medium amber brown bourbon hue with a small head that fully diminished but did leave some lace. Flavor is vanilla, caramel, alcohol, metal, and dark dried fruits. Palate is cloying, full bodied and oily flat. A very good aged barley wine but a little bit too cloying. Great aroma and flavor though. Top notch with a few years on her.

"Really Old Beers and Really Stinky Cheeses" tasting session at ACBF 2008. From the 2004 bottling. Really strong, lots of malt up front. Really lots of malt all the way through. The cheese pairing helped this one out, mellowing the sweetness, but still, just a little too much sweetness.

Hard to believe this is a 15% abv beer. Pours amber/orange color. Malty, sweet sugary with few hints of fruits, smooth citrus/orange and raisiins. One bottle is enough, sip and enjoy it.