Flat Earth Winter Warlock

Brewed by Flat Earth Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Thanks to Jeff for sharing this brew at the brewery. Pours a rich golden color. Nose is that of floral piny hops, and a touch of citrus that accompanies a nice light carmally sweet note. The flavor definatly unveils itself as it warms as when too cold the hops dominate. Very powerful sweet malt and toffee, as well as some of that floral character from the fuggles. The characteristic hop bite at the end is there as with all of Jeff’s brews, but the body is a little light. A nice beer that hides the alcohol very nicely, and finishes like Ben mentioned almost like a nice English IIPA. Talk about a dangerous session beer!

ABR 2008. Aroma is grain with a light fruitiness. Great flavor, sweet but not too sweet with a bit of bitterness to finish.

Bottle and served in my big ole Karmeliet tulip: Coppery hue with a small head but lasting foam that leaves spotty lacework upon the glassware. The nose detects very grassy and slight resiny hops, caramel and bready malts, pepper and juniper, hint of sweet wood, and some mineral water. The taste is rather straight forward blend of sweet malt and moderate hop bitterness finished off with a slight kick of spicy twang and fruit. That said it is tasty enough and I had no problem finishing the bottle in no time. Bonus for drinkability, not cloy nor boozy. Easily the best brew I have had from these Rush loving brewers... too bad I could not get the special porters.

Into my Flat Earth snifter you go, Winter Warlock....the name and occasion is apt, as I thought last week, when we spent time in summery sun and basked in 60-degree weather, and the melting snow slipped out the sins of winter, that spring was finally here, at last. I was the fool, and the magician who rules the weather made a mockery of my delight...we’re back at winter again, for awhile, and it’s warlock now rules us. Aw, well... on to investigate this ale.You are golden, sorcerer, with a quickly gone head... your aroma is mostly rich, sweet, boozy malt...I’m not feeling much more from it. Taste: more slick, more sweet, more malt, more booze...not exactly what I expect from the barleywines I enjoy most, and have historically found to my favor, but it is quite nice in it’s own regard. Lacks the hops of many of those, and leans heavily on the malt...something about that dynamic takes it somewhere else, indeed. Golden, bright, crisp, and, yes, boozy...the 9 % isn’t shy at all. Not that I’m complaining.I think Jeff Williamson has a thing for Fantasy/Sci-Fi/sword & sorcery,Tolkien, mythology, etc...not that I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons with him, but I bet if you played craps at his house, the dice would be twelve-sided. Sweetness is just right for a dessert or a nightcap, and the alcoholic warmth is well-needed in chilly evening (okay, mornings) as this... ’tis a fine ale...works nice, tonight ...another winner from Flat Earth.

Bottle. Body-medium honey, thick ring of bubbles. Taste-high CO2, medium alcohol, light berry, clean, good use of hops, kind of sweet on the back end.

Is, as pledged, quite gold, wispy white head. Nose quite sweet, bit of alcohol in it, a mite strong. Flavor is sweet, quite grainy, but not particularly unpleasantly so; up the grain flavor just a bit and give it to me in a blind tasting, and I’d have guessed European Strong Lager. Still, alcohol is well-masked, quite drinkable, pleasantly sweet. While its label says it’s an English-style barleywine, I don’t really get that vibe; I tend to expect butterscotch, toffee, caramel, things like that. Here, I get alcohol and sugars, yet they play well enough together that they’re not offensive. Not bad, rather enjoyedit.

18th beer in a 28 beer blind BW tasting. Poured a slightly hazed deep copper color with a thin off-white head. Aroma of brown sugar, hints of vanilla, aged fruity malt, sweet apples and plums. Mild hops and mild-moderate alcohol. Sweet malt flavor but short. Moderate bitterness from the middle to the finish. Medium bodied.

MN Ratebeer Winter Gathering, January 12, 2008. Huge thanks to Joebrew for bringing this in and a big thanks to Flat Earth for giving us the bottles. Light gold color with no head. Very resiny and spicy hop aroma. It definitely screams Fuggles. The taste is very straight forward: powerful and spicy malt, strong Fuggles. It is definitely not what I’d think of as an "English-style Barleywine" like a JW Lees or Tom Hardy’s, but almost like an American Barleywine made with English ingredients, or an English IIPA. Definitely interesting.