Dogwood Excellent Adventure

Formerly brewed at Dogwood Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Atlanta, Georgia USA

22 oz. bottle @ liquid sunshine tasting - thanks to after4ever for this gem; cloudy amber with no head; dark and rich; big nose of musky alcohol, caramel, sugar; almost wine-like; tiem has given this a creamy, thick body; flat and rich; wow, one of my favs of the night for sure

Never thought I’d get a chance to try this so I was excited when it showed up at a tasting last week. Aroma is rockin on this and I can smell it from across the table. More on the fruity side of smells with some plum and cherry. Slight sweetness. Really smooth overall but the finish is slighlty bitter and metallic hops. Deep amber color. Full bodied and fruity plum and raisin flavors.

RBSG 2008. Pours mahogany with a small tan head. Sweet caramel and soft milk chocolate up front. This bottle carries a touch of oxidation giving a lighter body, starting downhill for sure.

Bottle. Pours a cloudy ruby color with a decent tan colored head. Aroma is sweet caramel malts, light cherry, nutty. Flavor is wet cardboard, light cherry notes, sweet caramel, maple, alcohol. Palate is full bodied, medium to mild carbonation, finished sweet. A little oxideized, but overall fairly good.

RBSG ’08. Sampled from an unlabeled bottle at the Pizza Port Grand Tasting. Clear amber color with no head and low carbonation. Lots of caramel notes in the aroma. Flavor is sweet with cherry and toffee tones. A bit of wet cardboard and oxidation in the finish. Didn’t find out how old this was. Hot finish and a bit stingy on the palate. Medium drinkability.

In short: A past due-date maderized extra-sweet and fruity beer of some kind.
How: Bottle 22oz. Vintage, age unkown, too old. Sample at Cathschlag birthday party tasting.
The look: Cloudy light-brown body with almost no head
In long: Nose of big caramel. Extra-thick syrupy body, tropical fruits in thick caramel. Alcohol bite. A little cardboard. No hops bite to speak of. I could feel that this beer once was something but this bottle had a maderization impression (with Sherry notes and all) that was rather annoying, almost sickening. Dogwood Forgettable Incident.

Bottle at RBSG. Pours amber with a beige head. Sugary malt nose. This has cellared very well, as this has a nice maple, caramel flavor with the right balance of sweetness and mellowed bitterness. Not too hot either.

Sweet. Mellowed hops, like it has been aged. Some caramel. In the line of Full Sail barleywine. A good combination of the hops and sweet malt with dark fruit.