Dominion Millennium

Brewed by Coastal Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Annapolis, Maryland USA

Bottle. Hazy, copper color with good lacing and a small head. Sweet rich malty and fruity aroma, a little dustiness with noticible alcohol and citrus hoppiness. Flavor is sweet with sour/tart notes, fruity, good hop bite and a big alcohol finish. Full bodied with some carbonation.

7/24/04. Poured out of 12 oz. bottle, sampled at San Diego Barley Wine Tasting 7/24/04. Pours a bright, burnt orange-tan color. Big, sweet, sugary nose. Bold, twiggy and sweetly sappy flavor, bitter and smoothly fluffy. A bit nutty. Long, round sweet and darkly nutty finish. Some sappy stickiness and potency. Some dryness and numbing alcohol as well. Pretty good, but not all that distinct. And it needs some time to make it a bit better, methinks.

It says bottled in 1998. Pours a cloudy brown with a small silky off-white head. Very malty aroma with a ton of spice, caramel, gingerbread, and a roasty thing going on toward the end. Taste is very thick and strong, maple syrup, mollasses, chocolate, some woody tastes, very complex and tasty. Very smooth mouthfeel with a nice slight bitterness to balance out the taste at the end. Amazing brew that seems to have aged very well.

Orange gold color. Medium head. Aroma is orange, fruity and sweet. A full bodied Barley wine. Malts are fruity and sweet. Touches of caramel and raisins. Hops are grapefruity and spicy. A nice complex barley wine. Nicely balanced. Touch of alcohol warming. Very smooth tasting. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Clear reddish amber color with a small fizzy white head. Fresh orange, grapefruit, and sugary caramel aroma, along with some oak. The orange and oak show up in the flavor as well. Thin mouthfeel, but flavor is full.

Very nice, this had a very "aged" taste - flavors were complex and edged with oak. Caramel, chocolate, cofee, bread, pine. Palate had an edge to it like whiskey or strong wine. Body was thick (almost syrupy, but not). Finish was very warming and pleasantly bitter. Went back for more and brewer Sean told us that this batch had been aging for well over a year. (at the PA Microbrewers’ Fest 6/5/04)

[draft - 10th Annual PA Microbrewers Fest, Pennsylvania Brewing Co. - Pittsburgh, PA] This was 11.4%? It definitely didn’t taste like it. Poured a deep amber color with a thin white head and good carbonation. Strong aroma of sweet malt and caramel. Quite tasty. The taste was just as tasty... a nice sweet malty flavor with a slight alcohol warm, at that point I still didn’t know it was over 11%, and a creamy finish. cb says that this is like a fine port, so now I’m a bit curious to try a port to do some comparing.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of port/sherry qualities in beers I’ve had. I tried sample this brew without reflecting on those but it was inevitable -- the burn, the rawness, the dark fruity finish all reminded me of a fine port. The aroma had browned apples, raisins and a touch of alcohol in it. Lots of malty caramel, slightly burnt sugar and hops to offset the ethanol’s burn. I can imagine this being amazing in a year after it has had time to mellow and become more mature. Quite drinkable and tasty now, however.