Fish Tale Leviathan Barleywine (Batch 5+)

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Barley Wine
Olympia, Washington USA

12-oz, Batch 5. Pours dark amber to muddy brown, with a thick, rocky, diminishing tannish head. Heavy, sticky lace. Big fruity plummy/dried fruit nose. Sweet and sticky on the attack, with toffee and port notes asserting almost immediately and holding court until the hops start to fight through. By the time the hops take completely over at the finish, it’s all gone hollow, grassy, and dry. This is a hugely gratifying beer that manages to be comfortingly complex without being a chaotic jumble of flavors. Which may make it a great reason to choose a chaotic jumble of flavors for the next beer after this one.
Cask at the brewpub, 4-5-08. Murky coppery dark amber. Foamy tan head. Sweet yeasty floral, brown bread, and biscuit nose. All these return for the mid-palate. Bit of vodka bite at the end. Light, watery body. Very intense and bracing experience for being such a feather-light beer.

Looks like a barleywine as it pours into my snifter; slightly cloudy fire orange color with a totally retained off white head. Aroma is pretty profound with lots of alcohol, anise, and sweet malt. Flavors are initially sweet malt then a very significant hop finish. Very dry in the finish as well. Don’t think this compares to the barrel aged version, but it’s not too shabby either. The beauty of this barleywine is staying subtle at 10%. Fairy remarkable in that regard.

2006 bottle. Slightly hazy copper color with just a wisp of an off white head. Sweet malt, alcohol, hops and a bit of yeasty bread-ness. Carbonation is a little on the light side. Taste has a great mix of caramel, lightly roasted malts with a bit of brown sugar. There seems to be ample amount of hop bitterness to turn around the syrupy sweetness. Has a nice warm alcohol feeling at the end of the sip. Really nice barleywine. After 22oz didn’t notice the 10% abv. Doesn’t have the overpower sweet syrupy flavor of most barleywines. This one is very drinkable.

Bottle poured a dark orange amber with a big thick white head. Aroma is BIG of citrus, hops, alcohol and oranges. Flavor is is all hops and citrus with a heavy mouthfeel and sweet citrus finish.

Pours with a hazy, orangish, reddish tinged, amber color. The head when roused summons a three-finger thick tan colored head. The aroma is redolent of hops up front, herbal, citrus like with orange and grapefruit. As I go in for a deeper smell of the aroma I get notes of rich malt lead by notes of toffee, biscuit malt, and a bit of alcohol. Concentrated notes of caramel then become prominent. All in all the aroma is a tad weaker than I would like, but it does have suitably aromatically pleasing components.

The taste is sweet up front, with a solid fruity component that reminds me a bit of tart plums. The hops are nicely up front in the flavor; a mix of bitter hops, with an astringent herbal note, and a citrusy character. This beer has a bit of age to it and it has started to pick up some light oxidation notes which tend to accentuate the malt component. Finishes a bit on the thin side perhaps, but certainly drinkable.

12 oz bottle thanks to Degarth. Poured into St. Bernardus glass. Out of the fridge, let it warm for 15 minutes. A bit of lacing to a deep murky amber colored beer. The aroma is very sweet, that barleywine sweetness. Not hair raising. Walks the line perfectly between strong but not over the top. Some smoky aromas coming through in the background. The taste is actually disappointing. Nothing really present in the taste, including the alcohol. Very subdued for such a strong beer. Its as if all the flavors kind left the beer. The mouthfeel is too watery for me. Really does not leave any impression of a barleywine. As the beer warms up a slight bitterness comes out a the end of the flavor.

This is done very nicely, but has a lingering bit of cloying sweetness and a hazy kind of smoke on the palate and alcohol on the mouthfeel. Lots of caramel malt, toffee, and a bit of roastiness, that is unlike most other barleywines I have tried, somewhat unique, but also somewhat over the top.

Nice. A 12 ounce bottle that I received in a trade with matta. Batch No 5, bottled November 2004. Poured Murkey mix of brown and red into a snifter. Some visable carbonation rises to a smallish khaki head. No real lace to speak of. Aromas of ripe pit fruits, english toffee, sticky buns, and alcohol. Quite rich, milky, caramel macchiato, with lingering alcohol. Well balanced sweetness and bitterness. Long and full on the palate. Lush. For me, Leviathan is a touch more hop character from running with the big dogs.