Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Petaluma, California USA

Bottle. Moderate malt aromas of roasted and caramel, heavy orange for the hops, light leather for the yeast, with notes of date, toffee, brown sugar and vanilla. Head is small, frothy, off-white, with almost no lacing but has good legs, and is mostly diminishing. Color is clear, flat orange/copper. Flavor started moderately sweet and lightly acidic, then finishes lightly acidic and moderately bitter/sweet. Palate is medium to full, syrupy, has a carbonation between flat and soft, and finishes lightly alcoholic. A heavy, full bodied Barley Wine to be savored at length.

Bomber, from Bevmo. $4.50. Sold. This was my first venture out of Lager-land in several weeks, so maybe it’s just me, but this seemed strong. Gasoline strong. Tasty though. Lots of the usual suspects were present in the flavor: Toffee, Brown Sugar, hops, sugar, hops. Very syrupy body, extremely sweet and very, very strong. A sipper, but tasty.

Copper pour with a frothy off-white head. Lots of fig and citrus aroma with some notes of dough, caraway, plum, and molasses. Lots of overripe dark fruit flavor with a healthy dose citrusy hops. There’s also some hints of pepper, pine, and caramel in there. There’s a slight vegetal finish too. Sticky, full body.

Pours medium copper red with a 2 finger peach-tan head that has good retention. Aroma is citrus, caramel, overripe apple, crusty bread, dark fruits and lots of brown sugar. Flavor is mandarin orange, grapefruit, caramel, dry roasted nuts, a little pine, cannabis, mango, brown sugar and some woody notes. Finish is brownsugar covered, caramel filled grapefruit. Palate is thick and sticky with a thick, sweet finish. Overall a highly drinkable, but somewhat uninteresting barleywine with a nice hop presence.

bomber from grape & gourmet, 2008 bottling, reads 9.7% abv. pours a beautiful, slightly syrupy, dark amber with a touch of red and a thin, off-white head and minimal lacing. aroma is huge, sweet malts, pumpernickle bread, brown sugar, dark apple cider, fig, yellow raisin, and a hint of piney, earthy hops. flavor is delicious as well with huge malt and brown sugar sweetness but there is a lovely balance provided by light citrus hops, green apple notes, and dried fruits. finish is sweet as well with some notes of honey and cinnamon. palate is big, full bodied, and sticky in a good way with a touch of alcohol on the swallow. overall, another very solid big beer from lagunitas.

Beautiful orange/brown colour with almost no head. Fantastic malty and hoppy nose only overpowered by the taste of brown sugar, charamel, and lots of hops. This is almost a DIPA, and although the style may not be a pure/traditional barley wine, it is my favourite kind of barley. The american tradition shines through. This bottle is a year old, but has not changed at all, as far as I remember. I really wanted to save this at least another year, but as I am going to New York on vacation monday, I wanted something to set the scene for long avaited trip. Fantastic beer!

Bomber. Clear, amber body is topped with an orange-hued head, creamy, 1 finger, turns to a ring and coats the glass. The light aroma is fruity, estery, alcohol wafting up, sugar, some roastiness, pine. Full body, thick and sticky with malts and soft, creamy carbonation. My mouth and lips are literally sticky, and I thirst as though I’ve drank an abundance of overly sweet tea. Very sweet due to an extraordinary amount of malts, even for Lagunitas. Tons of roasted brown sugar, sweetened prunes, caramel, light citrus and pine hops almost as an afterthought, little alcohol presence. This beer is ridiculously sweet and definitely not for everybody, so be warned.

2009 edition Bottle. Pours red with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet with notes of cherries, barley and yeast. Flavor is strong sweetness with fruity and yeasty notes. A slight bitterness lingers in the finish. This one will age well..