Grand Lake Super Chicken Barley Wine

Big thanks to jdubFL for bringing this puppy (chicken) to the tasting. Pours clear amber with thin tan head. The aroma has lots of prunes, raisins, musty oxidized overripe plums, overripe dates and a ribbon of black strap molasses. The taste has an initial boozy chemical note that quickly turns into dates, prunes, plums and raisins. It’s a tad rough around the edges but this will age very well.

courtesy of jdubfl. Pours brown, thin beige head. Aroma of caramel mals, hops, dark fruits. Flavor, caramel, malts, grain, hints of yeast with some lingering hops. Has a good presence of fruits, smooth palate with a light bitter chocolate finish.

Pours a red brown. Nose is malty, booze, dark fruits, caramel, dates and raisin. Flavor is fruity sweet, some earth, some toffee, booze, and sugars.

12oz bottle... pours a dark caramel reddish brown with a barely noticeable head. doesn’t look too appealling based on appearance.... aroma of earth caramel malt and dark fruit. pretty standard..... flavors of sweet caramel malt and dark fruit with carbonation on the lighter side. finishes off with a light bitterness. pretty average.

12oz bottle, no date. Murky brown with a minimal beige head. Lots of caramel and alcohol up front with some old hops, cherries, and tobacco in the backend. Wish this bottle was dated, smells like it’s got some age on it. The flavor is hugely malty--lots of caramel, toffee, and grain--with all the aforementioned aromas. The alcohol in the mouth is masked well, but is noticeable down the throat. Dirty finish, bitterness 3. Slick medium body with scant carbonation. Was not worth the 6+ bucks it cost.

Thanks to mj. Aroma is strong alcoholic barleywine with light astringent cherry and lots of alcohol (as mentioned). The flavor is similar with the over the top barleywine brew. Its not bad, I just can’t do over the top BWs anymore, its astringent and overly alcoholic. Too big to be big.
12oz bottle, Duvel tasting glass.

12oz. bottle. Malty and sweet aroma, some tea-like herbal components, faint flowers and medicinal alcohol, some dark caramel as well. Dark rusty red-brown color, very fine head. Flavor is full of malt and what seems like cedar, plenty of bitterness and earthiness to be found, some alcohol heat and wood bark, plenty of dark caramel and somewhat burnt sugary sweetness. Smooth and low in carbonation, body is huge and full. Some balance to be found here but not a great deal of complexity.

12 oz bottle shared by beastiefan2k. Pour is murky brown, lighter chocolate brown with only a few soapy tannish bubbles for a head. Aroma is really big resiney pine hops some caramel malt behind that. Taste is brown sugar, bright pine hoppy, really not much melding together. Ok flavor with the hops, but not really any balancing. Palate is medium, maybe on the thin side for a Barley Wine. Some residual alcohol heat. Thanks for sharing Eugene.