Drakes Barley Wine Brandy Barrel

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

A very nice beverage and really interesting flavors. The alcohol is well hidden for almost 15%. The pour is a dark brown with beige head. The aromas are very nice--plenty of brown sugar and brandy. The taste has a sharp wood flavor and a nice maple sweetness. Very enjoyable, but damn those tiny bottles!!!

Sweet brandy and maple aroma, the alcohol is really blowing out of there,sweet dark fruits ,black tea, spices and sharp alcohol,the alcohol starts to dominate at the end. Very tasty,needs to be a littlemore complex to get into the upper 4’s

(6 oz. bottle via trade with IrishBoy, thanks Richard!) Pours murky brown with barely a trace of biege head that becomes a slight ring around the edges. Aroma of port, raisins and brown sugar. Mouthfeel very smooth, lightly sticky. Some very, very fine slight rings of lace. Flavor of port and brown sugar sweetness. A slight bit hot but really nothing for a nearly 15% beer. Tasty and smooth but not really too much depth of flavor.

Thank you cquiroga for sending me this bottle unexpected. It’s not every day that you come across a Top 50 beer with less than 70 ratings that is a limited release that wont be repeated. 6 oz. bottle. Incredible caramel, chocolate, brandy aroma with a high alcohol profile evident. Relatively clear dark reddish brown body, but nearly opaque. Virtually no head and no visible carbonation whatsoever. Oily mouthfeel. Softly carbonated; nearly flat. Very sweet and rich; tastes like it smells really. I’m not used to barrel aged barley wines. There is usually more than enough flavor and complexity in a barley wine that it doesn’t need the added component of barrel aging. In this case, the brandy seems to have mellowed its sharpness. A little cloying, but not really in a negative way. This brew may have been aging for too long. It could use more carbonation, which might help offset some of the cloying sweetness. Quite syrupy. I respect the effort, but don’t believe it’s a 98.5 percentile b-wine.

The aroma on this one was that of strong dark fruits, bourbon, chocolates, toffee, and sweet candied sugars. The taste was similar but much more pronounced. the flavors were great. Started off very sweet with the sugars and candies and toffee, and then went to the taste of the bourbon and alcohol (not much alcohol taste for a 15% alc. brew might I add), and then at the end of it you could even taste some hop bitterness. This truly was an exceptional beer. Aroma was a little subdued and the apperance was downright awful murky brown...but the flavors were unbeliveably great! Good stuff!

Murky brown orange with a few bubbles of light brown head. Heavy oxidized sherry-like notes with walnut, alcohol, and old chocolate in the aroma. Heavy sticky sweetness with nutty, earthy character. Dark alefruit, raisins, dried cherries in the finish with some alchol heat. Mouthfeel is heavy, thick, chewy, cloying.

Pour is dark hazy orangey amber with a thin tan head...smell is very roasty chocolately with some dry oak too...sweet deep flavor with lots of chocolate...chewy finish...

shared by JimMack at the heavyweight final open house. cloudy brown color, buttery syrupy malt aroma, oak too. flavor is dry and sweet syrupy malt at the same time. smooth finish and a bit dry. excellent! thanks Jim!