Drakes Barley Wine Bourbon Barrel

Formerly brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
San Leandro, California USA

Bottled. A very hazy dark amber beer with a thin tan head. The aroma is very sweet with strong notes of alcohol, over ripe fruits, and wood. The flavor is also very sweet with strong notes of over ripe fruits and prunes, with a light burn from the alcohol to accompany it.

Bottled. Beer is muddy, very dark brown without any head.<P>Malty with moderate/heavy notes of mineral-laden black strap molasses, light chocolate; Light herbal hop; Moderate yeast notes of basement/wet cement; Heavy miscellaneous notes of dusty wet cardboard, bad sherry, light note of wood.<P>Heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter with a long, lightly bittersweet, warm finish. Salty molasses aftertaste. Ugh.<P>The body is full, the texture is watery and the carbonation is soft.<P> The net: Smells like a bum sleeping in a dirty cardboard box in the rain.

One of the three bottled beers worth buying at the Hollingshead Deli on May 18th. 6oz Bottle. A blush of rosy currants, cranberry flesh, and warming malt alcohols. Nips of Calvados and tangerine juice. Rich and full. Pours a rusted blood red, with peach fringes. No head, no carbonation. Flavor starts with an intense caramel and sugar rush, with nectarines and toast. Rather hot, almost flagrantly so at 10%. Bits of refined apple character peek through, but get washed away in a see of mildly oxidized cotton candy. Wood tooth of the barrel creams away much vanilla, detail but it’s there in a Oaxacan sense. Good for a Mole. Extremely vinous and lightly bittered in a grape skin manner. Carbonation would help. But I think time might cut some of the harsher edges. There’s even light percolations of coffee, oak and chocolate towards the back. I think it has the malt character and defintion to age up to 15 years and stay interesting. However, it does already taste a bit like it’s at least 8 years old. A light spray of indiscriminate hop dust perks up a long, lightly soyed smack. What I expected. Not sure if it’s worth the dollar.

(Bottle 18 cl) Courtesy of aspidites. Pours a hazy, dark, orangey brown with an almost absent, off-white head. Aroma of caramel, nuts and....surprise, surprise....bourbon! This really pours thick and almost syrupy, almost flat. In the fore this appears a bit sticky and caramelish also with these saline accents that I also detected in the Brandy barrel version. But in the finish the great, oaky Bourbon notes shine through saving the whole deal. 280507

Shared with fordest and thanks to alohac. I had trouble drinking this one. Interesting notes of some fruit and malts. Tastes of strong dark mollases, hard to swallow at first but eventually it warmed up and tasted pretty decent.

6 oz bottle thanks to AlohaC. I don’t think this one aged like the Bourbon Barrel one did. No head, not much carbonation. Aromas were good, dark fruit and raisin, but the flavors were tough. Still dark fruit, but very alcoholic. Made a good sipper though.

6oz bottle. Virtually no head. Body is murky medium to dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (molasses, caramel, chocolate), with notes of vanilla, cardboard/sherry, whisky/bourbon, wood, and corn syrup. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately bitter, unclean. Medium body, syrupy texture, flat carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic. Not much good to say of this one. Although there are a few pleasant notes in the aroma, you have to wade through some very dull, stale notes to get to them. Pretty hard to choke down.

Aroma of raisiny alcohol, dates and a touch of hops, Smooth sugar daddy and vanilla malt taste, plenty of mellow alcohol in finish, can just barely dtectect that its bourbon ,minimal carbonation, a little hot going down, probaly what beers originaly tasted like, at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum from Bud Light