Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

2008 Release; Sampled June 2008
A standard pour produces a three-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The head is hop-sticky, leaving a nice lace pattern on the sides of the glass and subsiding with a creamy dense consistency. The beer is a clear, deeply red stained, amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, cranberry stained, metallic copper hue when held up to the light. The aroma is quite redolent of hops as even as I pour this I notice sticky hop notes oozing from this beer. The nose is a mix of candied orange peel, big lychee, grapefruit and berry-candy. A solid backdrop of spruce, candied pine and floral aromatics are tempered by sticky, sweet, amply caramelized malt sugar aromas. Toasted malt notes of bread crust and biscuits are found in the far finish. This has a nice mix of big hop character and sticky, rich malt aromas that put the nose squarely in the Barleywine camp (as opposed to a Double IPA for instance, this just has too much malt character).

Sweet and aggressively hoppy, this is a hop lovers wet-dream. A creamy, viscous thickness is not really tempered even by the aggressive, almost fizzy carbonation. The hop flavors here are dominated by citrus and tropical fruit flavors; lychee, apricot and a huge candied citrus mix of ruby-red grapefruit, bergamot and sweet, ripe tangelo dominate the start and middle of each sip, towards the finish a sharp, menthol / herbal hop bitterness becomes noticeable, but it doesn’t drown out the sweet hop-fruit flavors. This has a very clean malt character, the malt flavors are as complex as the aroma might have suggested; really though it is just that the hop character is too big to pull a lot of nuances from the malt notes. The malt provides lots of sweetness to accentuated the hops and lots of viscous mouthfeel that makes this a chewy brew.

This is quite a nice Barleywine, it has a really clean, hop fruit character to it, by which I mean that this is not overly aggressive in its hop character. The bitterness and herbal / pine flavors are much subdued comparatively, though they are still certainly present. This is actually fairly quaffable for such a big beer, in fact it is a rarity that I wouldn’t mind tackling the entire 22oz bottle on my own. Simplistic, sure, but fresh it is just so enjoyable and hoppy, yet with ample smooth malt character, this is a great way to spend an evening.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=698>Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Chestnut brown with small head. Nose of sweet malt, caramel, hops and citrus. Flavor is spicy hops and sweet brown sugar with caramel. Darker fruits and citrus as well. Very nice body and flavor.

2004 on tap at Ubers Tavern in Seattle--Poured a rich brown-amber body with a small whitish head. Nose of stinging piny, citrus, caramel and sugar. Slightly bubblegummy, but not too much. Leafy, somewhat cloying finish. Chewy, fruity, and citric. Great barley. Definitely gnarley.

Aroma is of citrus, caramel and molasses. Very dark amber to brown in color with a large brown head and strong lacing. It’s a slight hop flavor but more sweet and cirtus... definitely traces of molasses or brown sugar. Really nice!

bottle from abc liquors st petersberg. great dark ruby pour. aroma is caramel, sweet malt and powerful citrus hops. taste is very sweet at first, dark fruits sweet malt, followed by sweet bitter citrus hops. medium to heavy body.

2008 vintage from bomber. Pours ruby with barely any head, a tiny bit remains on top of the ale. Aroma is mostly sweet, caramel malt with a strong hops. The flavor is intense: sweet with hops, citrus, pine. Surprisingly balances for a barley wine. Overall smooth with a sweet finish. Very rich and impressive.

Deep ruby color with small off-white head that dissipates fully and leaves no lacing. Gorgeous color on this beer. Aroma rich with malt and caramel sweetness, light hops, and alcohol. Flavor is sweet and rich with some hop bite and alcohol burn at the end. Mouthfeel is lightly fizzy and smooth, somewhat thick and rich. Very nice example of the style!

Bottled. Tasting @ Kolding Bryglaug. Aroma has caramel malts, toffee and hops. Clear, red amber coloured with an off-white, thin head. Taste is sweet, caramel/toffee malty with hopbitterness. Okay.