Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Amber with touches of ruby and a thin white head. Big malty nose. Flavor is sweet and malty with a rather big hop presence for a barley wine. Nicely balanced, though. Potent, but smooth and refined. Nice.

22oz bomber, 2008 vintage, poured into a snifter. Pours a light clear copper with a small off-white head that recedes quickly to a collar with a swirl on top. The aroma is thick and sweet with tons of caramel malts, toffee and dark fruit. Definitely figs, raisins and some brown sugar to top it off. The taste follows the aroma and has a huge sweet caramel malt base that supports the dark fruit and brown sugar. Very sweet overall with the faintest hint of citrus hops up front. There is a bit of alcohol burn in the finish as well. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with soft carbonation and it coats the palate with the mixture of sweetness. This is a solid barleywine that has all the prerequisites of the style. It doesn’t blow me away on any aspects, but it’s a good, sweet, drinkable brew.

’04 on tap at Hard Liver. Very smooth....still a bit of hops left after 3 years. Good sweetness and alcohol is very subdued. Slight floral aroma.

"Very good offering from Lagunitas here. The Gnarlywine pours a dark amber color with a solid head. The aroma is very nice--plenty of caramel malt followed by piney hops. The taste is the same--and the mouthfeel is sticky and full. I liked this quite a bit.

Thanks to TheBeerCellar2 for this beer. Poured a hazy dark amber with a fizzy off-white head which dissipated completely. Aroma of grapes, citrusy hops and biscuit dough. Flavor is a great balance of sweet vinous fruits, peppery alcohol and grapefruit hops. The three are completely balanced throughout the entire sip, even long into the finish. I can’t decide if the flavor is peppery, hoppy, or sweet, and I’m loving it. Mouthful is full and bubbly.

11 oz. draft at the Galway Tribes (Frankfort, IL). Poured a deep dark caramelized brown with some darker notes, a tan prominent head that stuck around and laced extremely well. Initial aromas were more vague than expected, with a nice sweet malty feel and some smaller bitter hop notes. Initial taste is full of intense English sweet malts. A fairly heavy body that is very enjoyable, the large malty sweetness being new to me in my first entrance into the realm of barleywines. Some fruitiness and some honey sweetness enter as the malt really provides the show here. Still, I’m very happy with this brew.

The beer is very similar to Bigfoot, but sans the hops. The beer is a thick caramel malt base, immensely sweet, but somehow not cloyingly so. This one was screaming for a bit more hops, as only a faint grapefruit presence was noted...and even that I’m doubting only because I wanted it to be there so badly. Very, very little bitterness in this one made it a tad difficult to drink. Still, not a bad effort.

copper hue with a thin off white head, the aroma is mildly sweet. rich and chewy.