General Lafayette 275th Anniversary Ale

Formerly brewed at General Lafayette Inn and Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania USA

Had the pleasure of sampling this at the 1/27/2008 Pittsburgh ratebeer.com gathering upstairs, Sharp Edge Creekhouse. It will be a long time, if ever, I see a spread of bottles like I did there - ever again. I am not good enough for the beers that were that we sampled! For example, how about this beer; the ol’ general! Strongish overly sweet aroma that sets off an alky alarm in my head.! Clear orangish brown, but mostly brown. No detectable aroma, just clean and crisp. Wow, sweet and exceedingly strong but not in an alky way! mouth coating palate. Medicinal at times. Barley wine at it’s finist. Not as enjoyable as Marzoni’s wheat wine but certainly way above Brown sugah or Bell’s Wheat love in enjoyablility.

Thin head that dissipates quickly with light carbonation. Light orange in color. Surprisingly weak aroma especially in the 5oz snifter they served it in. Dark mahagony brown in color. Wow, amazing flavor. Huge thickness and sweetness. Alcohol is prominent with lots of caramel and sweet chewy malts. Super thick and sweet. Kind of flat in the mouth but who cares when there is this much flavor in there. Maybe a little bit of black cherry in there also. Finishes thick and chewey and sweet. A great brew but needs a little while to soften up. Glad I have one fo these to lay down for a while.

Big props to DocLock (Santa) for hooking me up with this one. Consumed on New Years Eve 07/08. Mostly clear ruby-copper color with very thin, sparse layer of head. Mild alcohol, peppery oak, dark fruit, light hops on the aroma. A great, well-melded aroma. Sweet tannic malt all the way, light hop finish. A very sweet and oaky barleywine. I usually don’t like the English-style BWs, but this one was great.

A thin khaki head fades instantly, revealing a not-quite-translucent teak/mahogany body with murky-mud swirls and ruby red and sunburst orange highlights. This has a ton of stuff going on but it’s still rather average. The nose is sensual and flows effortlessly through sweet maltiness and modest hoppiness that seems like a lovely expression of power, restrained. The yeast character is complex and well-played, fruits and spice mingling as one. English hops spur a caramel barrage that remains constant and controlled. Alcohol is modest for the reality of the strength at hand. Grape and tangerine rind notes are pleasant finishing and lingering notes of each inhalation. Sugars and highly sweet caramel malts rule in the flavor, edged out by soft citric hops. Sweetness is extremely high, though this is a rare occasion where it’s not bothersome, blended well and enjoyable. Hop oils roll in slowly at the climax of each sip and bring soft bitterness into the fray, continuing into the finish. The mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, very syrupy and lightly carbonated(very sparse).

Poured a ruby brown color. Aroma is extremely fruity, loads of dark fruit: tons of cherry, plums, raisins, pineapple, brown sugar. No detectable alcohol. Reminds me a bit of a Pedro Ximenez Sherry. Flavor is thick and syrupy, with the fruit continuing here. The oak makes a brief apperance with the alcohol on the finish, wrapping this one up nicely.

Sampled at Barcade Anniversary party. Deep amber beer with a thin white head. Rich nutty plummy aroma. Heavily toasted malts. Very sweet with a lovely rich bready character. A little bit syrupy and sweet. Hops are quite subtle letting the rich sweet malts show off. I quite like it.

From a sample someone at the bar poured. Reminds me of utopias in composition, though certainly a lot easier to drink. Very heavy, sweet. Fruit notes are noticed -- pineapple, grape -- along with a nice bready malt. Flavor is malt dominated, totally flat and syrupy, with some prune and raisin notes. Decently complex, but can’t quite keep up with other mega-barleywines.

Sweet (obviously) with a stickiness that I thought was a Scotch Ale. Some dark fruits poke their heads through to make this really delicious. Thanks Warren for sharing this stuff.