Heavyweight Old Salty

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

Bottle . Year 2005. Pours cloudy brown with large frothy tanned head. Gentle mineral hops wrapping malty solid base. Full bodied. Woody, plenty of chewy malts. Alcohol well blended. Quiet good.

750 ml bottle. Pours a dark brown with some red when held to the light and no head or carbonation. Aroma of vanilla, caramel, oak and a general woodiness. Flavor of wow...flat. Watery, with flavors of vanilla, dark fruit and caramel. Heavyweight just seemed to mess something up with this 750 since there was literallly no hint of carbonation. Thanks to Uniion Jacks for hooking us up with this one for free after realizing it was a total miss.

2004, courtesy of boboski. Very dark ruby/brown topped by a huge, airy, big bubbled, tan head. Rich nose of dark past ripe fruits, toasty sweet caramel/toffee malt, sugar, earthy and lightly bitter hops, funky bready yeast, and a very slight metallic oxidation. Same flavors minus the oxidation. The hops add some pine to the earth and bitterness and are the first to greet the palate. Right behind is a new addition, light spiciness. These join the rich, sweet, funky, fruity, bready, toasty flavors on the way to a chocolate-caramel-chunk-cookie finish. Full body, balanced. Excellent barleywine, underrated at 3.65.

My first barleywine, 2005 Bottle. Somewhere between deep red and muddy brown with no head. Smells sweet, sticky, raisin/molasses with alcohol. Heavily malty taste, thick sludgy mouthfeel, but not syrupy. Alcohol has been well integrated. Lightly sweet with light hoppiness. Medium spiciness with a great drying agent, really does remind me of salt. Lightly fruity, grape and dark berry. Coating, lasting finish. Really sticks with you…nice one! [3.9]

Bottle, 2-yr old stuff (same batch). Aroma – candy sugar, dried red fruits and a bit of chocolate, earthy caramel. Fruity! Yeasty notes as if from a HW. Decaying hops. Pours flat and ruby, seeps into brown. Taste is rich and malty, very fruity with a nice contribution from the yeast. Same as aroma with chocolate turned into light brown sugar and vanilla extract. A bit of alcohol, and warming. Smooth and not quite syrupy. Fullish body. Still a good deal of fun, but a bit past its prime. [3.4]

Bottle. Same batch as the others (2005), but drunk here in 2009 - about four years old. Sorry to see it go. Sweet malty nose, nary a hiss of carbonation upon opening (certainly no head). Slight portish nose but a relatively dense, unassuming nose, certainly no heavy caramel or hops. A little chocolate, though. Taste is sweet with some sourish notes, brown sugar and red berry over figs and distilled sherry alcohol (so some oxidation). Bittersweet balance, really hasn’t dried out as expected. Tart, lightly acidic, some raisin, brown sugar, almost a touch of smoke. Yummy melanoidins. Just viscous, swirling goodness in the mouth, full and extremely thick, lightly syrupy body. Not really an American Barleywine as I have come to know them, but had its own thing going. [3.5] A final R.I.P. - unless anyone has a bottle floating around!

2005 bottle. No head and a cloudy rosy brown color. Powerful aroma of fruit; raspberries, peaches and grapes. Very persistent fruity flavor with alcohol throughout. Very hoppy at first leading to a slightly bitter middle and then to a delicate alcohol induced heat. Aftertaste is very fresh and fruity. Fun tasty beer but the alcohol is definitely evident.

2004 vintage found recently at Stateline in MD. Pours with an absolutely huge frothy light tan head. Lots of thick lacing and head is quite durable. Intense, rich aromas of dark rum-soaked fruit cake, raisins, plums, dark caramel and toasted malts. Palate was thick and somewhat syrupy, but at the same time too fizzy for the style. The immediate Sugar Daddy caramel candy sweetness noted on the first sip verifys that this is indeed an English style BW. Rich flavors of fig, raisin, dark rum, cherry and dates are also perceived with a faint strange sourness noted in the background. The hops here seem almost non-existant as the overall profile of this BW is very sweet. However, the 11% alcohol does a nice job of cutting through the candy-like sweetness and contributing a warming finish.

Bottle. Amber coloured with almost no head. Malty and sweet. Notes of dried fruits. Hints of caramel and spices.

’05 version. Pours a dark reddish brown with no head. Very malty aroma with hints of plum and toffee. No real carbonation here but that doesn’t bother me at all. I really enjoy the big sweetness to this one and and the tons of dark fruity flavors.