Dominion Millennium

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

Date: February 06, 1998
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Vintage: 1998
Appearance: opaque amber, whispy head, touch of lace
Aroma: rich malt aroma with nice hop accents
Flavor: rich aged malt flavor, lots of balancing hops, lots of bitterness
Overall: a cross between crusty and bigfoot

Date: January 31, 2003
Vintage: 1998
Appearance: slightly hazy dark amber, whispy tan head
Aroma: strong hops on a light malty aroma
Flavor: rich fruity malt flavor with well balanced hops, hints of alcohol erased by a bitter finish

Date: February 16, 2005
Vintage: 1998
Aroma: nice rich sweet fruity malt aroma
Flavor: rich creamy malt flavor, lots of rich ripe fruit character, just enough hops to balance without having any hpppy character

Date: February 01, 2007
Vintage: 1998
starting to pick up some oxidation in the malt, fruity character is becoming subdued, over the hill

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Score: ***4

Date: March 29, 2002
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Vintage: 2002
Appearance: hazy amber, big frothy head that settles down
Aroma: fresh hop aroma on a slightly sweet rich malt base
Flavor: big hop flavor, slightly green, lots of carmel sweetness, slight alocholic burn

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Score: **4

Date: March 22, 2003
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Vintage: 2003
Appearance: cl

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.

Copper colored, maintains a small head(what I'd expect for a barley). I like this beer. English hops and well malted, seem to have a nice balance. The aroma had more of an alcohol scent than the flavor. Nice sipp'n winter brew!

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.

An excellent flavor very similar to sherry with a good oak presence. Red/orange appearance. I'm all about this, and want to try it again.

2002 vintage. Orange with an off white head. Aroma of malt, hops, and a touch of oxidation. Smells like an aged barlywine for sure. Flavor is very heavy on the hops. Nice sherried malt underneath. Good mouth feel, with a hard alcohol-like presence.

A hoppy barleywine with beautiful color. Sweet, light, malty, alcoholic aroma. Defintely a strong alcohol taste.

6yr old bottle, courtesy from hopsrus Deep copper hue with a light brown sticky head, not all that big, but impressing me for a 6yr old 11.4% barley wine. Aroma is still very hoppy, foresty and piney in fact. Black chocolate and earthy perfumes abundance. Here and there, a grapefruit juice suggestion pops up through the assertive earthiness. Neat aroma, very different. In mouth, there’s more C-hops than I had anticipated, this is bold, piney and grapefruity although we still find the earthy characteristics and there’s a pleasant caramelic malt backbone. Citrusy finish, very hoppy and bitter, rather well-hidden alcohol. Medium-bodied, biting carbonation. A good beer, but, as it happens to me frequently these days, the mouth presence is just not as interesting as the aroma. This is a good barley wine from my notes, but quite frankly, I didn’t even remember having had it 2 days later (among 10+ other IPAs and barley wines)
Ok, I finally got around to retasting this one. It was still a very good barleywine. Nice floral and orange complex hop bite. Herbs, mango, leather. Well presented high alcohol. Medium body. Just a masterly balanced barleywine. Leaving the score where it is, but this last bottle was a young one (2004)