Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Bottle, 2007 vintage. Pours crimson copper with thick beige head, good retention and quite a bit of lacing. Aroma is pungent brown sugar, toffee mead, sticky dried fruit, toasted malt and a very light touch of sourness. Flavor is solid, lightly sweet toffee, caramel malt flavors, deep in the backround a touch of well blended floral and even some citrus hops. Finish is a little bit of herbal bitterness and lingering alcohol. Extremely well-balanced, rich and indulgent. Tasty enough to drink on a regular basis.

Twenty Aught-6 bottle from Bevmo?; Been in the cellar for over a yearl Nose of raisins, caramel, and very light alcohol; rusty red with a small beige head; flavor of caramel, fig newtons, and a slight hint of hop bitterness; finish shows light alcohol warmth and very slight bitterness. Pretty good barlewine; glad I let it rest for over a year in the cellar.

2007 drank 2007. 22 oz. bottle. poured about a walnut brown color with a 1/8 head that dissipated in a bout a minute. aromas of alcohol most prominent along with malty sweetness. flavor was less sweet than other barleywines i’ve tried, and had more hops and earth flavor. definitely alcohol is not hidden. i bet it will be a lot better in a few years, which is good because i bought a case from the brewery.

Very rich and malty - just what you would expect from Lagunitas. Lots of fig and raisin complimented by a great hop presence in a role not noramally seen in a Barleywine. Not overly sweet, but there is a strong taste of caramel and toffee. I really enjoyed the hops in here, a curveball from a traditional barleywine but who cares! Hops never hurt anyone, keep tossing them into the vat. I like how the style is actually Barleywine on this one, not American Strong Ale, like most other Lagunitas drinks - buck the notion of traditional classification, great beer is just that - GREAT BEER.

22 oz. bottle - pours clear, dark amber with almost no head; sweet, malty aromas; drinks a little rich and very smooth; IMO, just a notch below the brown sugga’ 3/9/08 update - snifter @ beverage place barleywine bacchanal; 2004 vintage; texture was a little flat with the age, but this was very good and had developed a lovely texture to it

Pours out a deep brown color with a small head. Aroma is hoppy, sweet and a slight amount of citrus. flavor was very nice with a hop smack to it. This is a great barley wine. one of the better ones that i have had.

Very hoppy smell. Silky smooth like maple syrup with a mahogany color to match. Wonderful hoppy yet syruppy flavor. Way hopped-up; non-traditional.

Tasted at Lagunitas. Hazy brown with a fizzy white head. Caramel malt aroma. Sweet caramel and brown sugar taste with some hoppy bitterness to the finish.