J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Sherry)

Brewed by J.W. Lees
Style: Barley Wine
Middleton Junction, England

2005 Vintage. 9.3 oz. bottle. Pours a murky dark brown with scattered dark chunks floating about. Very thin linen white head quickly vaporizes and leaves no lace. Very pleasant aroma of sweet malt, oak, vanilla and sherry. The flavor begins with sweet malt and some mild oak followed by a solid dose of sherry and finishes with some moderate alcohol heat, which I think is enhanced by the sherry. The heat lingers briefly beyond the swallow. As the beer warms, some mild oxidation becomes apparent as well. This is a good beer, but I found I enjoyed this version less than the others I have tried thus far.

2004 vintage 9.3oz bottle (love how people refer to these as 12oz or 11.2oz bottles...). Served at room temp. Pours a clear but fairly murky and very dark duller brown with a surprisingly large thick dense creamy beige head. Aroma is malty and grassy, sweet and rich with lovely warming alcohol with sweet fruity sherry notes, great nutty notes, prunes, well oxidized with lots of remaining character, not quite completely homogenized. Wooo.... ooo... ooo.... ooo... took me a good 5 seconds to swallow the first sip. First taste is deceptively dull and malty, after being in the mouth a second or two it opens up to immense sweet and fruity earthiness, way more sherry forward than I was expecting, very malty nutty, grassy oxidation notes, the sherry is strong, good, but maybe a bit distracting from the Harvest Ale, not as smooth as some older vintages. I kind of wish I had opened the 2004 Lagavulin instead of this at this time. Finishes with lots of fruity berry seeds, syrupy, sweet, cloying. Medium/full bodied, some lingering spread out medium pops of carbonation, syrupy feeling towards the finish. Some tannins still present. Lots of sweet cherry as I drink it, some of the powdered sugar type cloyingness. I’m absolutely blown away at the amount of sherry that is present in this... strange

2007 bottle. sediment heavy honey colored body. nose is sharp oak, grape skin, syrupy/sugary cooking sherry and heavy and sharp alcohol. resinous, oily, chewy, syrupy texture, very thick. has a soured greens/vegetal flavor throughout, seems like moldy, damp oak barrels and stewed celery. some semi-sweet honey and maraschino cherry malt shows up at times. overall too boozy and too messy with some definite off-flavors. bad batch?

2003 Bottle shared by BBB63. THanks a TON Mike! Consumed 10/9/09. Pours a clear copper with a small offwhite head. Leaves a small white ring around the glass. Notes of smoke, sherry barrel, sweet toffee. Really smooth. Awesome beer. Up there with the whiskey barrel version as one of my favorites of the Lees barrel aged beers.

Bottle 񢉘) from South Bay Drugs. wanted to let this beer age a bit but, that didn’t happen. Poured a lot lighter than expected, medium burnt orange with a small off white ring. Nose is very sweet with some caramel, roasted toffee, apricots and other candied tree fruits. Flavor was also very sweet with some maple, honey, brown sugar, candied apricots and a faint warming booze. Damn good stuff.

OK. I finally pulled the trigger. $9.99 for a 12oz. I swear I’ve been drinking 3X less beer since the BS "hop shortage" price hike last year. I could have sworn this beer was (an already too high) $5.99 last year. So after a couple of months of search it seems I can only find it for $9.99 everywhere. I now think PP bottle shop has decent prices, ranging toward the lower of the price range of other stores: Texas liquor, Bevmo, Holiday, etc, so now I’m going to do all my shopping there. Anywho, on to the beer: Yellow amber color. 2007 vintage. Nice buttery barrel aroma. Leans heavily on the sweeter side without being cloying. Alcohol decently hidden under the sweetness. A hint of pleasant oxidation, or is that the sherry? Whatever, it’s nice. Little visible carbonation, but you can feel it’s bite when you drink the beer. Very nice after what seems to be months without a beer. I’ve been working way too hard.

Bottle at Cropredy from my DLD haul ... deep brown ... sweet fruity malts ... wouch of wine nose ... sweet syrupy toffee ... rich malts ...vanilla .. very juicy and soft and rich and plummy... little dusty toffee... wonderfully sublime.

Bottle very kindly brought along by Craig and shared in a field at Cropredy Festival 14-08-09 Pours orange amber with a beige head sticky sugar aroma with some creamy vanilla, there is also some spirit and rolling baccy. Tastes wonderful oaky, creamy and so incredibly rich, some caramel and the only negative aspect was a strange dustiness at the end of each mouthful, otherwise excellent stuff, would be nice to get some of these to lay down for a few years. A8 A4 F8 P4 Ov16 4.0