Goose Island Batch 2000 Wheatmiser

Formerly brewed at Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Barley Wine
Chicago, Illinois USA

Date: 06/20/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

dark amber, wispy beige head, strong sweet caramel and fruity wine aroma, big thick sticky body, rich caramel malt flavor, lots of sweet fruity character, light alcohol in the finish, sticky sweetness,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 10/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

(Growler) Pours a clear amber body with a small creamy white head. Aroma of citrus, berries, toffee, and wheat. Flavor of sweet honey, wheat, mild hops, and dark fruits.

On tap at Clybourn on 6/20/07: Pours a transparent dark copper with a thin wispy-lacing ring of off-white head. Aroma of sweet dense caramel and wheat with a touch of noble and citrusy US hops. Body starts thick and viscous with a sweet dark caramel flavor along with a touch of raisin complexity. Finishes sticky sweet and with some fruity esters. A nice wheatwine.

Tap at the Clybourne location. Pale golden pour. The nose is intensely sweet with a lot of candyish and cotton candy aroma. Very sugary palate with a real tooth-aching sweetness. A little bit of peach and rotted fruit. Vegetal and DMS laden. Herbal hoppiness but nothing could even come close to balancing all of the unfermented, underattenuated malt sugars in here. Gak!

Poured into a snifter, this has a very dark copper body with a bubbly ecru head. It has a sharp aroma of stoned fruits, alcohol, toffee, and a light earthy/nutty bitterness. This is thick, smooth, peppery, and hot on the tongue. The flacor echoes the nose, the bitterness building up as the drinking goes on, balancing the malty, fruity sweetness. The finish is sticky sweet with a hoppy bitterness and a low alcohol burn. This would age well.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Island - Clybourn, Chicago, IL<font size=-1>

Taller taupe head atop a dark bronze to copper colored liquid. Big malty aroma with plenty of resinlike hops in the background. Fruit and spice also in the nose as this warms. Thick and rich. Over-ripe fruit in a malt bath. Fairly sharp at times, but the thickness seems to assuage the bite. Light warming alcohol and spice late. Very nice wheatwine. Wish this was bottled it would age well.

RBSG 07 Minneapolis Grand Tasting: Caramel color, light head and lacing. Nose of hoppy spruce and sweet caramel. The flavor is strong and very sweet, lots of fruity slushee flavors and nice alcohol and hop notes. Finishes smooth, excellent.

Draught snifter at the Clybourn location, June 26 2007. A huge overflowing light tan head tops the dark, translucent copper body, lasting and forming thick filmy lacing when it finally subsides....big hoppy aroma, woody-piney resinous character is dominant, caramel sweetness shows up after a bit, and bready malts are eventually distinguishable, though alcohol is not....the body is extremely sweet, though a sour and meatallic note shows up late accompanied by wheat-bread tartness....vanilla and caramel overwhelm at first, but the finishing bitterness eventually dominates, creating a fairly harsh but syrupy outcome....interesting, doesn’t entirely work for me but not bad I guess.