Drakes Barley Wine Bourbon Barrel

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

Nip sized bottles (good thing we had a couple of these to share). Poured a dark and muddy brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of bourbon, vanilla, caramel, brown sugar, chocolate, wood, and tobacco. Tastes of bourbon, caramel, wood, dark cherries, brown sugar, and vanilla. Medium alcohol burn in the finish.

Poured a dark hazy, mahogany color with no head, but a thin collar of light head head, that left faint lacing on the glass. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla, wood, caramel malts, tobacco, dark fruits. Taste of caramel malts, molasses, wood, a light tartness from dried fruits, toffee, chocolate, tobacco, maple, and a bit of alcohol as well in the finish. Thanks to Steve and Mike for this one!

Thanks to hopdog and weeare138 for opening these bottles. Pours a deep brown with barely any head. Aroma of dark fruits, cardboard, tobacco, brown sugar, vanilla, some bourbon, oak and maple. Flavor of vanilla, molasses, brown sugar, sweet toasty malts, some mellowed hops.

A 125 ml bottle for $6.99 (!!!) from Bottle Barn, Santa Rosa. Opaque dark brown with no head. Nasty aroma of beer past its prime: gym sock, brown sugar, and ass. Unfortunately, the taste is commensurate with aroma - like a sugar coated liquid fart. This is just plain bad. I’ve had it with Drakes’ beer. The three expensive beers I’ve had from them blew chunks! Fool me once...

6 oz. bottle at 10.37% on the front, but 11.1% in the fine print on the back. Arresting aroma. Alcohol and dark fruit. Wood. Molasses. Something that bites. No head. No fizz. A dark woody brown color. Vanilla as the snifter approaches the lips. Thin to medium bodied. Prune. Toffee. Heat. Sour at the back of the mouth. A bit harsh in the mouth. Overall it’s sweet, with not a great deal of hop presence. Just enough to tingle the mouth. A few swallows allow some bitter oak to surface. Also coffee. Maple (like Boston Beer’s Triple Bock in a mild way). Apparently more flavors arrive as it warms (or as the mouth adjusts). Very interesting stuff.

6 oz nip bottle that opens with barely a hiss. Bourbon, malt, and hops are most prominent, not unlike Old Crustacean on charred oak. Nearly still with only a couple bubbles. Sweeter finish than expected but overall a tasty barley wine.

Thanks to SoLan for trading this to me. The beer pours to a murky dark brow body with no head. The aroma is quite nice. Sweet barley meets a bunch of vanilla bourbon and oak. Toffee and nougat. Simply phenomenal aroma. Damn! Touches of tobacco. The flavor is a nougat and barley that’s infused with lots of vanilla laden bourbon and molasses. Notes of tobacco. The palate is sweet and lightly sticky. Full bodied and alcoholic. A touch hot. But, very nice.

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.