Karl Strauss Balboas Barleywine

Brewed by Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
San Diego, California USA

On tap from the brewpub. Tasted during trip to California. Reddish brown clear colour with a nice head. Good aroma of alcohol, sweet caramel and candy. Very much flavour of sweetness and complex hops. It all ends up warm and extreme bitter and dry, little speciel for a barley wine.

(Draft: Karl Strauss in La Jolla, CA) The nose is kind of odd and smells vaguely floral, but I can’t really identify the aroma. It’s not "beer-like" in any event. Sweet flavor, very light malt, fairly bitter, but again, there’s some weird floral flavor that I cannot attribute to any identifiable flavor. Medium body, slightly sticky mouthfeel. Medium ruddy brown color. The light tan head is very small, not even forming a complete layer, and fades to a very tiny rim. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say the line was just dirty.

Aroma was juiced up with a big floral aroma of hops and some malt character. Colored a deep mahogany red and accompanied with quite a impressing sized head being it was poured from tap. Flavor had a tangy sourness of hop and the malt was a reminder that this was also a barleywine. By far Karl Strauss’ best beer for the person who prefers a more complex taste.

On tap@Sorrento Mesa brewpub: Dark red brown color with a small (bar pour) yellowish head. Nose has a hint of vanilla I think. Flavor starts rich and caramel sweet and finishes lightly sweet with a hint of hop bitterness for balance. Palate is rich and full. A rather pleasant, albeit light, barleywine.

Had this one on tap at the brewpub in Downtown San Diego. Delicious! Dark reddish dark brown in color. Light to little head. Strong aroma of raisins and alcohol. The malty sweetness pervades. Easily the best poured by Strauss.

Drank a half gallon of this on New Year's eve. Quite easy drinking for a barleywine. Lower in alcohol than many. Nice hop finish, beautiful ruby color. Not the best barleywine out there, but drinkable.

Clear reddish amber appearance. Aroma is mostly clear with some vanilla essence. Strong biscuity, malty flavor, quite a bit of yeast, and pretty generous hop balance. It's a little too sweet and sticks around a little, but ofr a corpo-chain it's not too bad.