Goose Island Batch 2000 Barleywine

4/25/08 12 oz bottle with the white label. Big thanks to drewbeerme for sharing this rare treat. Pours clear orange with a beige head. Nose is oxidized and sweet with lots of caramels, cherries, and malts. Aged malt and alcohol flavors. Cherries, charred wood. Sweet and a little grassy from faded hops. Finishes charred and bitter. A good beer to start off this great DLD weekend.

12oz bottle. thanks to andrew for sharing this gem.... pours amber red, semi-transparent with small white suspended particles throughout. topped off with a thin non-persisting off-white head.... aroma of sweet, chewy caramel and dark fruit with some faded hops.... flavor was very smooth overall, sweet sugary dark fruity malt with a good sense of hops remaining. very nicely balanced and well aged for a 3 year old brew.

12oz, pours hazy red with small off white head. aged 3 years. aroma has grapefruit and citrus hop notes. still pretty dang hoppy some aged tobacco malty aromas too. flavors are still very hoppy, citrus, piney, smooth caramel and tobacco notes. alcohol is well hidden. extremely tasty and isn’t showing signs of it going down hill anytime soon.

Bottle. Reddish amber colour with a nice little creamy head. Wonderful hoppy aroma with a huge caramel notes. Great flavour of hops, citrus, melon and with a strong malty caramel notes, Very wonderful endeed.

I haven’t been rating lately, I been drinking good beer but not putting the experience on paper or computer. So I grabbed this gem and decided to rate it. This beer has been taunting me for a year now and I always thought I would save it for some of my beer geek friends or similar special occasion. So a Tuesday night right after work “cocktail” seemed special enough. I went ahead and opened it up poured up half in a 8 ounce brandy snifter thinking of clever descriptions of the smells I was getting with the pour- butterscotch, vanilla, apricot fruitiness and alcohol. It was too cold which made it seem a bit syrupy, the white head didn’t linger, and the color was tawny with a definite haze that cleared as it warmed. The taste was a big hop bite up front; I was shocked that the hop character was so noticeable on a beer with that much age, big malty middle and some sweetness in the finish. As the beer warmed the sweetness moved to the front and a smooth bitterness to the back. I concur with previous descriptions of its “chewiness” for this bottle was a meal. So save your bottle for some friends and enjoy an ounce or two. I was struggling to get through a full twelve ounces but was pleased with characteristics similar to liquid Valium upon finishing it.

Thanks to hopdog for cracking open this rarity for one of our finale brews at the tastings... Appears an orange toned amber with a small white head that slowly fades into a thick cap and collar. Spotty lacing is left around the glass. Smell is of cherries, caramel, rich malt, cocoa, oak tannins, port wine, and rich mollasses. Taste is of the mentioned aromas with a dosage of oxidized sugary goodness. Wow. Really complex and flavorful stuff. Mouthfeel is sugary cherry, bready sugar, caramel, and toffee.

This was a treat to have. After the tour we added a few of these to the mix and it was worth it.

Bottle. A dark amber beer with a big beige head. The aroma is of caramel malt, cookies, alcohol and hops, the taste is sweet caramel malt, alcohol and hops. Medium to full body with a sweet warming finish.