Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

bottle. Orange colour. Sweet hoppy caramel bit spiced aroma. Flavour of sweet glucose, malt and hops, alcohol, spices and a good roasty alco finish.

Sample from bottle. Pours amber. Aroma of malt and spices. Flavour of spices, hops and malt. Has a good sweetness. Winous mouthfeel. Good bitter finish.

Bottle. Small beige fizzy head that mostly diminished. Good lacing to be observed. Light cloudy body with an amber color. Good mix of hop and malt in the aroma. Grapefruit, pine, elderflower, rye bread, caramel, liquorish. Medium to full bodied with an average carbonation and a dry texture. Light alcohol can be felt over the palate. Moderated bitter hoppy flavor with good balancing sweet notes. Good dry and bitter finish.

Bottle. Orange colour with a off-white head. Caramel malt, some citric hop aroma and taste. Medium body with a sweet light alcoholic finish.

Twenty ’Aught 06 release. Pours garnet into a snifter. Head quickly recedes to skim rim. Dark caramel, pine and resin aromas. Sticky and full with upfront melted dark caramel and a lasting resin finish.

2006 bottle. Pours a translucent copper with barely any suggestion of a head, just like a barleywine should look like. The nose is spot on as well. Big rich malt, though not overly sweet. Like carmel, not cloying, balanced by a woody sort of hops, a little earthy. The palate is nice, low carbonation, not super thick, but not watery, with some alcohol in there, for sure. The flavors are really quite enjoyable. Sweet, but not to sweet, something very tannic about this, like tea. The malt is not hit you over the head in a thick syrup, rather, it’s more like a thin port. There’s some alcohol in here, and no sign of cough syrup is what I’m saying. Soem slightly woody and barely earthy notes accompany a very conservative noble hopping. A little peppery. A bit of bubblegum. The finish is light, and dry for the style, while the aftertaste is tannic, with some bitterness. This reminded me so much of the first barleywine I had, a year old Bigfoot, though I’d say it’s much less syrupy and hoppy. I have to try to pick up some more of this stuff in my travels this week.

Red. Smells like caramel, maple, sweet honey and sugar. Similar flavor but now I notice the alcohol. Also in the flavor it seems fruity (apples even) and spicier than I would have guessed given the aroma. Full bodied, thick palate.

[148-20061221] 650mL. Sweet syrupy maple aroma with light woody notes. Clear, red-amber body. Flavour extends sweet maple into aftertaste, heavy on the alcohol and caramel toffee-like characteristics. Medium-full body. Very nice togetherness, not like others’ afters. (8/4/9/4/16) 4.1

[2363B-20090731] Growler. Nice sweet malty toast aroma. Clear, dark amber brown body with a quick light tan head. Long sweet malty syrup flavour has some toasted honey yeast in it. Medium-full body. Very tasty! (7/3/8/3/17) 3.8
(w/ others @ BCTC; Cooperstown, NY)