Dogwood Excellent Adventure

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

Bottle. Cloudy orange red coloured with a small off white head, Sweet aroma of dried fruits, caramel and flowers. Sweet powerfull flavour of dried fruits, caramel, hops and cookies. Dry hoppy finish. Very good.

(Hand bottle 65 cl) Courtesy of CaptainCougar. Pours a fairly cloudy, orangey golden with a small, off-white head. Typical fat Barley Wine aroma of burned caramel and overripe fruit. Quite full in body, sweetish caramel notes and a touch of nuts, wood and vanilla. Quite a distinct alcohol presence in the finish. But lovely indeed. 280907

Hand bottle. [Courtesy of Papsoe, quality tasting @ Papsoe] Average creamy light brown head that mostly diminished. Light cloudy body with an amber color. Nice bread like notes with some cookie, grain, toasted malt and nutty aroma. Hint of underlying wood and vanilla with some honey, dried fruity notes as well. Full bodied with a thick oily, alcoholic texture and a soft carbonation. Heavy sweet flavor with moderated bitter notes. Light sweet and warming finish. Almost like a good cognac. 28-09-2007

Bottle. A light hazy amber beer with a beige head. The aroma is of caramel malt, wood, vanilla and hops, the taste is sweet caramel malt, wood, vanilla, hops and alcohol. Medium to full body with a dry light alcoholic finish.

Dark golden brown-orange with a thick white head. A little thick and Sweet but has wonderful hints of caramel and light stone fruits like apricots. The hops is quite balanced but as it ages the hops are more and more subdued. The alcohol comes out in this one for sure. Nice one to age - if you can get your hands on it.

Cloudy amber pour with a ring of white lace. Solid aroma of caramel with a sweet, fruity, presence. Very good flavor of hops, fruit jam, caramel with a dry and bitter finish. The body is light to medium with a liqourous texture and moderate carbonation. Very good.

Date: 07/22/2004
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewery

hazy amber, whispy white head, sweet carmel aroma with lots of earthy hops and an undercurrent of alcohol, almost coying sweet malt flavor followed by a lonq bitter finish, just a hint of alcohol,
-------- /> Date: 07/07/2005
Mode: draft
Score: iii
Words: 5 Seasons

sweet malt aroma, good rich malt flavor well balanced with earthy hops, sweet and earthy as a barleywine shoud be,
-------- /> Date: 04/05/2006
Source: tasting

sweet fruity aroma, hot fruity malt flavor,
-------- /> Date: 12/04/2006
Mode: draft
Words: 5S North

great fruity flavor, perfect sweetness, no alcohol, aging so nice in the keg beating the bottle
-------- /> Date: 01/06/2007
Mode: bottle
Source: blind tasting
Score: 3.8

muddy amber, wispy white head, big sweet complex aroma with lots of fruity character, creamy body, nice sweet fruit flavor, light balancing bitterness,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Score: **4

Sampled August 2007
Quite rich smelling, clearly starting to age a bit, but it does not seem to be detrimental yet. The hazy, concentrated amber colored beer is topped by an initially, fat, one-finger thick, tan colored head. Aromatic notes of concentrated fruitiness (raisins & prunes), herbaceous & fruity hops (both citrus notes and a berry character) as well as aged malt notes of sherry, caramelized malt and significant brown sugar are all quite noticeable here. Some light oxidation notes have added a complex, almost meaty (really more umami like than meat like) quality to the aroma that really integrates quite well and makes this all that more complex. This still has a fairly vibrant malt and hop character to it; the age has muted these notes for sure, but not yet suppressed them and it has added other layered aromatics to the nose.

Creamy feeling as it hits my mouth, the carbonation is fairly light, but still adds a touch of a prickly sensation to the tongue. The oxidation / aged notes are not quite as present as in the aroma, and they certainly were not dominant there, but they do adds some dustiness to the malt character, a touch of sherry and it definitely seems to amplify fruity notes of prunes and raisins (all of these notes are more noticeable towards or even well into the finish). The hop character still has a vibrant edge to it (this must have been quite hoppy when fresh, because it is still quite hoppy); notes of candied grapefruit, orange zest, tangelo, a backdrop of menthol and pine as well as a solid, yet in no way dominating bitterness. Thick and chewy without being sticky; this is definitely a sipping brew as the malt and hop character demand that you savor each sip.

This beer might be at its peak right now; ample fresh hop and malt notes are still quite noticeable, but these are tempered by an almost perfect amount of age and oxidation that is not yet dominating the flavor profile, instead it is accentuating & adding to the complexity of this brew. This is one of those beers that seems to grow on me; dissecting the flavor components and aged components is such an enjoyable task that this beer only get better with each sip. It is surprising at times how well integrated and how much the aged / oxidation character add to this brew; with the big caveat that I have not had this beer when it was fresh, I think that this really might be peaking right now. This reminds me a lot of the balance, if not necessarily the specific flavors, of that magical time for every vintage of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot when it is between 2 and 4 years of age. This ends up being so tasty, such a consummate sipping brew, I can’t help but thoroughly enjoy this brew. My enjoyment of this is certainly a bit situational, but regardless this is one impressive brew. I see that the early ratings state that this was sort of an English balanced Barley wine, if this is true then watch out, because this might still improve for another 10 years