Heavyweight Old Salty

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

dark, wood colored..slightly soured and malty aroma..smooth full body but slightly syrupy...sweet and candy-like flavors...lock rock candy or something, i think.

2003 version. Pours light brown with a very thin off-white head. Smells very sweet like candy. Flavor has an alcoholic bite but with many subtle flavors coming out, including malt, raisin, fruit, toffee, and some hops. Definitely needs some aging to tame the alcohol, but otherwise pretty darn good.

got an ´03 bottle of this at the grey lodge from our 25 dollar trivia winnings. darkish copper, thick and imposing with an obvious alcohol aroma and some caramel. tasted of toffee, a dash of fish sauce and juniper. good stuff

2001 Vintage Poured a cloudy murky looking dark amber with no head to speak of. Aroma is slightly vinous and highly metallic initially. Strong malt and fruit are also in the aroma as well as toffy. Body is creamy and smooth with low carbonation. Flavor is quite bitter and lingering for awhile. I was thinking this might not be that good but the flavor isn’t bad actually. Despite the bitterness this BW has a good fruity malt flavor with caramel galore. Hops at 2+ years are subdued aromatically. Alcohol is supressed in flavor but adds a nice warming sensation. Overall one that aged well.

2005 bottle rated on 4/18/08: This one resembles the other versions, but has virtually no head, just a few tan bubbles, but it’s been around for a bit. Complex sweet rich caramely malty nose has some raisin and brown sugar notes. Body follows suit with a nicely aged sweet caramel maltiness and light molasses flavor. A true to style, balanced, and overall enjoyable barleywine. I sure hope the recipe for this survives.

2004 bottle rated on 11/19/06: Pours a cloudy dark copper mahogany with a thin, spotty-lacing off-white head. Complex, slightly oxidized, dark caramel malty aroma has some brown sugar and raisin character. Body has a nice sweet, viscous maltiness, good complexity and balance toward a finish that hides the alcohol well. Seems to have aged well.

2003 bottle rated on 6/18/04: Pours a clear dark copper with a thin light tan head. Aroma is a nicely balanced combination of very sweet caramel and toffee malts and a mild, but noticeable hoppiness. Starts thick and syrupy sweet, turning more bitter and dry toward the finish, yet hiding its alcohol very well. A nice English style barleywine. Thanks to Goldtwins for the bottle!

Old salty. Come on now, try to come up with something that at least sounds appetizing. My mind swims with thoughts of vile excreta whenever I come across this name. A factor that has kept me from trying this beer until now. The salt comes in 12 oz brown bottle. The pour is an opaque red-brown color with a minimal tan head. The scent is orange and sweet malt. The flavor is sharp and sweet with a flavor of nectarine. Overall a very smooth drinking barleywine. Good but not truly noteworthy in what has become a crowded field. But good god get a better name.

Came in a brown 12 oz. bottle with clearly marked as 2003 vintage. The label says to stash this beer away for a year to discover the magic of bottle maturity. But since this is my only bottle, I am going to enjoy is as a six month old adolescent. The beer is cloudy reddish brown in color with almost no carbonation. Looks exactly like iced tea after the brief initial fizzle wears off. There is very little lace as well, most likely the result of the high ABV. The smell is like a fine wine with plums, cherries, brown sugar, and spiced alcohol. The aromatic profile is very Belgian Dark-esque. The taste is very fruity malt that was detected in the smell with a candy sugar sweetness added to it. The hops are quite bitter and make the beer feel spicy and dry in the mouth, but they seem to have taken more of a secondary role at this age. The alcohol makes itself known with a strong burn at the back of the throat, especially as the beer warms. The beer feels a bit thin on the palette for the style, but this may be related to the age. Overall a solid Barleywine that makes a good sipping companion on a late night, especially, if it happens to be your birthday.

2002/2003 back-to-back (Thanks Matt). So, New Jersey has a fine big beer to go with its notorious big hair! I appreciated the muted hops of the older bottle, where the belgian qwualities reigned. The younger bottle has a sharper flavor and finish (as expected). Both had full bodies and that in-your-face kindness that we love about those that frquest the Jersey shore.