Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

On cask at Night of the Living Ales IV. I wasn’t going to bother with this beer, until it was suggested by drewbeerme. Wow, what a surprise. This took to the cask extremely well. Nose is a blend of caramel, toffee, red fruit, and citrus. Alcohol is not noticeable. Caramels, cherries, apples, oranges with fresh PNW hops. Tasty beer. I’ll be picking this up next time I see it.

Source: 22 oz bottle purchased from Green’s in Atlanta on Buford.
Appearance: Poured a clear ruby red with a half finger of tan head. The head quickly dissipated, leaving a lot of intricate lacing.
Aroma: First note was dead fish...disgusting. Further sniffing gave way to notes of brown sugar, dark fruits and a bit of earthy hops.
Flavor: The flavor was solid. Dark fruits, sweet caramel malt and brown sugar dominated. Not much in the way of hops here. This bottle said 2009, so I don’t think they should have faded too much by now. Guess this just isn’t a hoppy BW.
Palate: Full body with soft carbonation and a slick, chewy mouthfeel.
Overall: I was pretty impressed here. Having sampled several of their offerings, this one was above par.

Bottle, from Julio’s. Good nose, fruity. Grape, apple, carmel, bubblegum, pinneapple. Clean brownish orange color, small head that faded quickly. Bitter sweet flavors. carmel, dried fruit(cherry, raisin), grapefruit, hint of soap, Thick body, creamy oily mouthfeel, smooth bitter finish. Very nice B.W. I’d say easy drinking, but at near 10% I don’t think that it applies here. Lagunitas does it again

[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!

750ml. 2008. Fruity aroma with a decent caramel backbone. Mandarin oranges, tangerine, toffee and brown sugar. There’s some lurking pine resin hiding on the nose as well. Pours mostly clear dark amber with a thick and lasting white head. Decent balance of caramel malt and resinous pine on the tongue. The alcohol is quite well hidden. Plenty of hops, plenty of malt.Medium to full bodied. Typical of the style. Decent American style barley wine, but far from spectacular.

Spicey hops dominate along with a bold slightly fruity texture, taste is a wonderful mildly sweet fruity malty flavor with great hp presence,a fruity malty hoppy finish,as good a deal as you can get for the price

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

Amber red pour; the first appearing violently filtered and the second yielding a pleasant haze of yeast. Aroma is surprisingly dense and nuanced, and even delicately layered; raisins, caramel, vanilla and strawberry compose the original punch of sweet syrups. Red pepper, black pepper, and a hint of vinegar in a pungent middle. Seared, caramelized pears, butter rum and tepid maple sugars lend a sophisticated touch as it warms. Caramel apples and brown sugar dominate the flavor, simply and boldly, sitting in comfortable obesity beneath a thick layering resinous piney hops. Citrus and honey sweetness in abundance, with bready and fruity esters filling in the cracks on that second pour. Medium to full bodied, slick, and loud. Heavy caramel and singed sugars in the coating finish. Hardly unenjoyable, and certainly not poorly made. Still, it’s nothing to revisit.