Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Dark amber with thin white head. Aroma of citrus, caramel, caramelized sugar and trademark Lagunitas alcohol. Taste of brown sugar, caramel and citrus hops. Starts sweet then finishes dry. Like most Lagunitas they don’t bother to mask the alcohol making it less drinkable, IMO.

2008 bomber. rich coppery amber pour with a fluffy light khaki head. initial floral citrus aroma is followed by pine, orange and some other fruit (pineapple or over ripe mango maybe?) and sweet caramel cereal type grain. the palate is surprisingly not overly sweet. of course the caramel and malt are up front but they are combined with pine, grassy, citrus and earthy hops to keep everything in balance. some of that over ripe fruit shows back up along with orange and some spices. there’s a piney/alcohol/spicy burn on the finish. medium bodied for the style. a bitter dryness cuts through the sugar to keep it drinkable. very basic and delicious.

On tap at Redlight. Clear copper-red color with a thin, even persistent white head. Caramel sweetness on the aroma, very slight peppery hop background. Mostly caramel malt aroma. Fruity start on the taste, then a flush of floral candied hops comes in and lingers through to the finish. Still too generic in some sense to stand out, but was still very pleasing to drink.

Bottle from Kegs & Barrels in Plano, TX. Pours a nice, clear, deep reddish brown with nice thick beige head. Aroma is sweet, molasses, brown sugar, very malty, dark fruit, cherries, caramel, kinda complex. Flavor is very sweet, cherries, dark fruit, brown sugar, molasses, malty, appears to be a little oaky, I do detect a hop presence, caramel and faint balancing bitter. Mouth feel is heavy body with low-medium carbonation. Over all, thats some pretty good shit!!!!

22oz bottle with maybe a few months of age. The pour is a nice muddy red/brown that I expect from barleywines. The aroma is much more complicated than I had anticipated. Good notes of caramel, fruit, and spice all well blended. The flavor was much the same, with very little alcohol presence other than the nice warming sensation. A very pleasant and incredibly drinkable barleywine.

2003 vintage. Tap at the Blind Tiger. Hazy red orange, tan head. Candied slightly soured fruit aroma. Malty fruity flavor, slight sourness. Malty fruity finish. Tastes older than it is...

Nice color of clear deep ruby copper, finger high head of fluffy cheese cake, resides sort of fast, a thin ring maintains around the edge and lacing in thin whispy strings and sheets. Mild aroma of soft and sweet malts with some light dried hops that have a small pineyness, phenol yeasty notes and alcohol start to mop up all in its path as it warms. Taste has a nice warm backing finishing with some light hoppy bitterness thats fairly mild in a piney dried faction. The front is a little slippery and weak but draws through a nice light caramel malt and some slight sweetness til it gets to the end where it beefs up a bit and the hops come in. Feel has a thinnish start but picks up some nice medium body, nearly full with some of its carbonation and hops coming in just past the halfway point; and then dries out slowly with an abundant but calming piney resinous hoppyness thats quite nice and lasting. A decent barleywine, could use a bit of a nudge in its overall character with some thickness, but its pretty smooth and has a good little hop profile thats nice.

22oz bomber twenty’ aught-8. Pours a clear red with a medium fizzy fine white froth. Aroma is quite oxidized but still very pungent, sweet caramel and salty piney hops, fridge/ambrosia, citrus and toasted sugars. Really bright sweet sugary taste, salty, a sweet salty sour metallic twang, like fermenting overripe peaches, toasted caramel, ambrosia, a bit boozy towards the finish, fuselly. Medium/full bodied, lots of fizzy fluffy carbonation, fluffy viscous. This really tastes like a beach breeze wine-cooler thingy.