Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Snifter served at Lunar Brewing. A deep amber/ruby color, with a foamy,off white, diminishing head and clingy lacing. The aroma is definitely malty, sweet citrus, and a touch of floral. The flavor again is malty, now with a medium hop bitterness to mellow the sweet fruit and caramel notes. The alcohol needs no introduction!

2006 bottle from....Shigadeyo maybe? Pours a very nice copper with an off white head. Aroma of sugary malts, alcohol, berry, and wine. Medium bodied with some slight syrupyness to the texture. Flavor of caramel and raisin countered with some muted, but still bitter hops. Some vineous qualities as well. Finish is warming but with an overwhelming amount yeast and dust. For a barleywine, this not aging well nor bad. However, I suspect this is past it’s prime. The fading hops are not leaving enough of an interesting malt profile to mix with the alcohol.

Draught: A cloudy amber color with a thin tan head. Smells of hops, citris, and a hint of raisins and coffee. Tasts of bitter hops with a smooth aftertaste which masks the alcohol. Definitly catches you off guard, but a definite well crafted brew, kudos.

No doubt about it, this is one mighty fine barleywine. Spot on for the style and rather similar to a year old SN Bigfoot. Clear amber/copper color, thin off white head and plenty of good lacing. Underlying grainy aroma with a robust sweetness of rich, hearty malts. Sugary plums, thick toffee, and floral/perfume like hop scents. A thick, smooth sipping beer. Sweet and mildly bittering with a great finish and prolonged aftertaste. Flavorful with a mixture of burnt toast, raisins, toffee, bitter flowers and dark cherries. A touch of pine along with a woody, fibrous taste. An overall mellow blend of aromas and flavors that tickle the senses. I liked this one a lot, it really is what I look forward to in a well crafted barleywine.

[Sampled in Gråsten.] Barley look with beige head. Notes of fat caramel, true malty aroma, some peppers, fruits , whisky, nice and wellbalanced. An okay replacement for Old Foghorn!

22oz bottle. Pours dark amber with minimal white head. Aroma is of hops, malt, wheat, bubblegum, and alcohol. Taste is dark fruit, hops, caramel malt, alcohol, and spice. Alcohol presence is huge in this one. Mouthfeel is sticky and oily. Not drinkable, definitely a sipper. Warms immensely.

22oz bottle: Sparkling copper pour with a condensed beige head. Fantastic nose of caramelized sugars, butterscotch, rum, raisins, plums, caramel covered green apples, candy corn. Did I mention that this smells sweet? Hops are secondary, but present with a fresh grass/pine needle influence. Big, almost cloying, body. Wow - more aged malts, nearing oxidation, but velvet smooth. Slight bitterness keeps the sweetness in check and rounds out the sugar onslaught. Very nice - I was expecting an American barleywine from Lagunitas, but this English style is fantastic. I would like to see this with about a year on it.

Pours a burnt reddish orange with a small, dense head. The aroma is very, very sweet - so much malts you can hardly taste the hops. Almost sickly sweet - overripe fruit and raisins. Actually smells quite a bit like Samichlaus. The hops come through a bit more in the flavor, but still not much - this is an incredibly malty barleywine. A very good sipper, but it’s a bit over the top to have more than a small glass of.