 MartinT (4330), Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Apr 8, 2008
My Bottom Line:
Chocolate-covered strawberries stream from the thick cereals until wooden, earthy hops seal this hot and heavy Barley Wine.
Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the cloudy auburn.
-Alcohol warms up the back end.
-Malt sweetness expands into caramel territory rather quickly.
-The whisky barrels are there and probably contribute to the greater alcohol presence in the flavor profile.
Bottle.
General_Gao (2509), Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Sep 1, 2008 Thanks to iowaherkeye for bringing this bottle to his ’farewell to Iowa’ tasting. Released 6/07, bottle #251. Poured a garnet brown color. The head was tan with an orange-ish tint. Smelled of molasses, toffee, dark fruits, and a splash of booze. Medium bodied and semi-sweet up front. Dry-ish finish with mild accompanying bitterness. Boozy whiskey, molasses, and toffee dominated the flavor. Decent beer.
estoppel (1017), Buffalo, New York, USA
Aug 31, 2008 Bottle. Cola brown body, big dense tan head, Centennials and some malt in the nose. Not a lot of spicy rye character, but malty, with PNW hops, some alcohol, and quite a bit of sweetness. Tasty, but not distinctive as I hoped it would be.
kramer (1873), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Aug 27, 2008 25 oz bottle. Pours a quite dark amber brown body with a very small fizzy beige head that ran to a thin ring. Very sweet and fruity malt driven aroma with heavy caramel, light oak, vanilla, light alcohol, and some Nutella. Quite sweet and fruity up front with lots of caramel and slightly burnt toffee, some nuttiness. The oak and whiskey flavors come out fairly subtly on the finish making it more of addition to the flavor than something that dominates it. The alcohol is noticeable, but not overpowering in the least. There’s also a nice almost roasty and chocolaty component that really plays well with the sweetness. I think that this will age really quite nicely when a bit of oxidation sets in. Mouthfeel is full and almost velvety with the somewhat low soft carbonation level. Just the slightest bit of clingy residual sugars late in the finish. Overall I thought that this was quite nice, an excellent sipper to take your time with enjoying it.
blipp (724), Grand Island, New York, USA
Aug 4, 2008 Bottle #1697, released June 07. Pours Deep ruby brown with a very thin head. Nice fruity aroma with cherry, vanilla, chocolate and chestnut. Medium full body, very smooth. Flavor starts sweet with plum and caramel, before moving to a more toasty area with oak, earth, chocolate and chestnuts. Finishes with a very nice combination of spicy hops and oak. Very nice.
emacgee (1053), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Aug 1, 2008 Pours a dark red with a thin head. The nose was sweet, spicy rye, warm alcohol, some bourbon, a little subdued. Bourbon flavor, warm, spicy rye, lightly waxy hop flavor. The mouthfeel was thin with no carbonation. Finished warm.
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