Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine

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

Pours slightly hazed w/ a deep honey color. Froth is semi creamy, medium sized w/ some spattering, finally reducing to complete lacing. Aromas of sweet and bittered caramel. Full nectar w/ mellow residual effers. This is a malt bomb balanced by huge hops. I love this brew. It leaves a stinging bitterness on the palate during the finish mode. Bittered by hops, aged citrus rind. Flavors are high on caramel w/ cherry, apricot, honey, apple, slight leather. The alcohol really plays a part in this short story creating the perfect accompanyment to the bitter hops character to balance out all this decadent malt presence. It’s perfect!

12 oz. brown, longneck bottle. Packaged on date of 01/04. Very fresh stuff then. Loud pfftt when opened. Bottle conditioned, so they must be using champagne yeast to do it. Poured out a slightly hazy, orangish / amber / copper color. Kind of swirled around and changed colors in my snifter. Thin, but persistent, white head that stuck around for the ride to the bottom of the glass. Aromas are of malts, naturally, but also caramel, vanilla notes, slightly oakey, Belgian yeast, because of the banana notes, macerated fruits, and hops at the end. Very fruity smelling, but no discernible alcohol notes. All that malt is covering it up, but you can and still will feel it when it hits you. It sort of loosens up your neck first, then it hits your brain full force. Warming as it’s swallowed, but no burning, like so many other high alcohol beers. Low levels of diacetyl detected, but not to the point of being buttery. Tastes are fantastic, with the malts swimming around on your tongue, only to be followed closely by the hops. Someone did their homework on this beer, that much is certain. Certainly fruity, with esters abundantly present. Slick, oily mouthfeel. Goes down too easily. This is one to age for the years ahead. It can only get better. Finishes somewhat sweet, but not syrupy or cloying. A really fine barleywine from the gang over at Dogfish Head Brewery.

2002
Murky orange body with no head or lacing.
Very rich and malty aroma. Sweet too. Lots of fruit like orange, peach, figs and maybe some strawberries. Complex aroma.
Orange and fig flavors dominate among the big sweetness of the brew. A crazy yeastiness. Honey with a citric bite at the end. Alcohol is 100% masked.
Extremely smooth from the cellaring time. Rich and thick on the tongue. Crisp yet still long in the finish.

Original socre 4.3. Had a tasting where I had way too many. This has a light fruity aroma. Nice orange color. The flavor on this is great. A bit of fruit, not much molasses, but certainly feels way lighter than 15%. Great beer.

Had a bottle that was a couple years old. Got it at a local bar and let it sit out for almost an hour. I could not believe how much the alchol was covered up in the barley wine. Very little carbonation and a little citrus taste at the end made this one of my favorite barley wines.

Pours a copper color with a small, white head that actually lingers a minute before dissipating. The color is amazingly light for such a strong barleywine. I was expecting a much darker pour. Interesting aroma of fruits, most notably apricots and peaches with a touch of yeast, almost like Belgian strong ale. Wow! This is unbelievably smooth in flavor, with little carbonation and flavors that change from orange to apricot and finally to peach. The finish is sweet and fruity. There are absolutely no alcohol notes to be found, which is quite a feat considering its 15% ABV. What a remarkable barleywine. Marvelous!

Dogfish rocks it Olde School with a near perfect brew. The most amazing thing about Olde School is that, if it weren’t for the label, you’d never know you were drinking a 15%er. The alcohol is so well intermingled within the brew its prescence is only felt, but not actually tasted. If you could call a barley wine balanced, then this one is. Silky smooth, sweet but bitter, and incredibly complex, OS is so well brewed that individual flavors are hard to name. There are many, but they are so fleeting, almost like a deja vu, that none sticks around long enough to rule the roost. Get off your rockers and kick it Olde School!

Really could age for a year or two. I had a taste today of a fresh batch, and oh wow. Really great beer. Sam, brewer of dgh, has out done himself. Rich and complex. Malty. Orange and yellow in color. Very Good.