Dominion Millennium

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

From this quality brewery comes a beer that punches you in the gut with alcohol like a cannon. I think they should have opted to take the syrupy sweet route which hides the alcohol better (think Old Horizontal). Instead, Old Dominion went with the dry, carbonated variety of barleywine, which still works, but just isn’t my favorite. Very malty.

12-oz. Pours dark, cloudy amber with a thick, moussy off-white head. Ultra toffee-infused nose; plenty of caramel, too. Piney notes bring up a distant rear. Thick but not chewy or overbearing body; fairly moderate carb. More malt (toffee and caramel extraordinaire) on the palate, with a wee bit of pine following for that final kiss. Not really much varied or terribly interesting--just a metric ton of malts, and those within a fairly conventional and narrow range. Beers don’t have to be experimental to be good, but this one’s just too timid.

Clear and rusty orange. Rich, intense sweetness from the first whiff to the last swallow (not necessarily a "dessert" sweetness, though). Super-smooth and rich texture. Complex sweetness (aged caramel, if there were such a thing), with notes of candy sugar and Astropops. Flowery bitterness. Nice balance, surprisingly. Dryish finish, curiously. Hidden alcohol, but warming. Really good stuff.

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2005 vintage. Hazy orange color with a white head. The aroma was mostly citrus hops. The flavor seems dominated by orange citrus hops, some pine hoppiness and a bit of sweet caramel. Very tasty.

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2001 vintage. This one seemed a bit more tart. I think there may have been a problem with this particular bottle. .

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2000 vintage. This one also poured somewhat hazy orange to light amber with little head. The aroma was very light. The hop bitterness and flavor were much softer than the ’05. The ABV was unnoticed. Really nice beer.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma is medium to heavy sweet. Smells of malts, caramel, and piney hops. Poured copper/dark amber in color with a medium-sized off-white head that lasted throughout. Tiny lacing. Hazy. Sparkling. Flavor is medium sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes very bready with notes of caramel, malts, rye, pine, and hops. Medium to full body. Oily texture. Soft carbonation. Salty, bitter finish.

I was told by the brewers this was brewed in 2001. Produces a warming, gentle aroma. Gentle and smooth flavor with a sting of alcohol coming out a bit as well. Huge head--odd? A bit bitter in the finish, but I also loved the sweet thickness and palate. A very reputable barleywine. (on tap, Pennsylvania Microbrewers Fest 2003)

Bottle at RBSG courtesy AgentSteve; Nose is brown sugar, caramel, and a vanilla note; brown with a few bybbles; flavor is sugary fruits, toffee, and caramel.

This is a very hoppy barleywine, much like SN Bigfoot, or 3F Behemoth, but this lacks the fullness and complexity of those big ones. Don't get me wrong, this is good, but there are so many great barleywines out there, that I wouldn't call this one one to really seek out - slight white lacing, clear copper color - malty aroma with a bit of honey - honey initially in the flavor, then the hops come in - heavy maltiness comes back toward the end, with some fruits (cherries mostly) - the malt/hop balance is pulled off well in this one, much like the beers mentioned above, but this is still one notch under those greats.