Heavyweight Old Salty

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

2000 bottle. Murky, light brown color with a small tan head. Sweet malty aroma with hints of caramel, raisins and bread. Tasted sweet, but not overly so. Thick, but not cloying. Flavor of caramel, malt, raisins and a touch of butter. I’ve sampled bottles from 2000, ’01, ’02, ’03 and ’04 and they definitely get better as they age.

Bottle Pours a mediumm tan color and a medium off white head with spotty lacing. Aroma Malty spicy aromas and a carmel malty flavor. Lively spicey feel and a hoppt slightly bitter aftertaste. Taste. Thanks to HaRftyDorftyDinkyDeftydank for sharing thisone

2003 bottle. Poured a little flat. Red amber color with only little off white slick of a head. Man was the nose funky. Started out all vinegar but moved to yellow mustard. It reminded me of deviled eggs and not in a good way. Flavor is solid Barley Wine, with lots of dark malty fruit and caramel sweetness. Mellowing citrus hop flavors with a faint hop burn in the finish. Alcohol comes out as it warms. I might have liked it better younger. Not a bad flavor, but that nose...

2000 bottle consumed 11/04. Thanks to Mike (eydrinkale) for the bottle. Wow. Amazingly murky pour, looks like melted caramel with some toffee mixed in. Light beige head, obviously unfiltered and bottle conditioned. . . .which means, this has aged spectacularly! You can sense it as soon as you smell it; light yeast, dates, peaches, raisins, chewy caramel, a touch of earth and plenty of wonderfully rich toffee/malt feel. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and this thing just pours on the good qualities. Chewy and rich, but yet balanced and not overbearing. Caramel, figs, toffee, raisins. If you mixed a Harvey’s Elizabethan with Old Numbskull, I’d imagine it to turn out something like this. Wonderful qualities from the yeast (phenols and a dusty vintage quality). At four years old, the flavor hasnt suffered. I left a glass of this out overnight and in the morning, the body was as strong as ever. Fantastic!! English barleywines are truly divine!

2001 bottle consumed Feb 2005 Yikes, it’s amazing to see the changes in just one year. Sourish lactic notes, much higher alpha hops than the 2000. More loose of a body, with less fruity yeast. Bitter roast astringency, heavily thin on the finish. 6/5/5/2/11
Final score is an average of the two.

Bottled. Vintage 2004. Murky brown body with a medium tan head. Aroma is malty and semi-sweet with mild caramel, light alcohol, mild hops and some spiciness. Taste is strong alcohol, mild caramel and brown sugar with moderate hop character and spices. Body is medium with moderate bitterness and an above average alcohol warming. Finishes with more alcohol notes, medium bitterness and lighter malt sweetness. This could stand some age, but is still good!

Cloudy light brown color, with brown sugar and sweet malt aromas. Flavors of brown sugar, raisins, and other dark fruit. Alcohol has a strong presence as well. Aging might smooth it out some.

Silky smooth pour with no head at all and a prune colored body. When opening the bottle, I got hints of molasses but they could not be detected after pouring this one into my glass. The alcohol is well hidden in this malty beverage but I could not detect the presents of hops. Nice barley wine.

Vintage 2003 bottle.
Hazy amber/orange beer with a disappearing head. Sweet malty and grassy aroma with some alcohol. Flavor starts sweet with bitter hops in the finish. Quite fruity. Soft and nice.