Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Nice aroma of malts, candy sugar, caramel, bread. Appearance is a beautiful ruby red, thin white foam. Flavor is very sweet, fruit, bread, caramel. A little bit of the alcohol comes through, but not much considering the 11% ABV. Finish is fruity, slight piney hop bittering, booze. Very nice! Calssic Barley Win, and a good representative of the style. Thick and oily mouthfeel. Awesome

Copper color. Smell of hops, nuts, toffee, spice, malt and candied sugar. Taste of malt, nuts, hops, pine, spice, copper, metallic, flowers and alcohol. Solid barely wine.

Deep copper/brown/red, with little head. There is very little head. The beer looks good, but there is nothing very distinct about this beer. Very fruity flavor with a very large malt aroma. The hop aroma is not there. The beer seems that it will not be that hoppy or even bitter, for a barley wine. Strong presence of figs, and dark fruits, but still not an awesome aroma. Just a strong malt aroma. There is an aroma of alcohol, but that is coming on very strong as the beer warms up. Very strong fruit presence at the beginning, but the flavor is destroyed by the alochol. The hop flavor is also destroyed by the strong presence of alochol. I realize that barley wines are very alcoholic, but this should not get in the way of the hops. The malts are not muted by the alcohol and there is a nice sweetness left on the tongue. Very creamy and smooth. This beer is pretty good. I am not a huge barley wine fan, but this beer has a nice dark fruit/malt characteristic to it. I enjoyed it, and think this is a decent brew.

08 Bottle. Pours a clear ruby-copper color with a thick beige head that stuck around quite well. Really nice aroma of caramel, some nice citrus grapefruit, orange with some resinous pine in the background. Nice lightly sweet caramel malt with some light toffee with strong undertones of grapefruit and other citrus, leading into a lightly piny, dry finish. Very full, slick mouthfeel. I only tried this because I didn’t realize the guy I was going to send it to could already get it, but I will probably pick up a few more now.

22 oz bottle. Vintage "Twenty Aught-9". 11% ABV. I.B.U. 69.39. Pours a thickish head of good retention, with loads of lacing, over a clear mahogany body....nose is very sweet, with fruit banana, pineapple and a bit of pine....taste is very sweet malts with balancing hops barely holding them down, finish is hop bitterness with a lingering pineapple/pine finish. Mouthfeel is rich and chewy. This seems a little unbalanced tending toward the malt back bone, but then again it is very young.

The most surprising aspect of this beer is its sheer drinkability - and later the impressive alchohol content as you find yourself slurring your words after a couple pints. Very ample caramel quality is never overpoweringly sweet but rather a nice balance with the very slight hops and barely noticeable alchohol. Burnt toffee, toasted bread, light wood chips...these were all there, but it’s difficult to slow down long enough to notice, The beer finishes like a dream and doesn’t get in the way of your meal (or lack thereof). Great barleywine.

THOUGHTS: I was amazed to be trying a Lagunitas that wasn’t an IPA or an American strong ale. But boy, does it still pack on the hops. A nice barley wine, but nothing I haven’t had before. Really not all that much different than the other Lagunitas beers. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium to dark orangy red with a small to average, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing at first and then virtually none. The aroma was moderate to heavy caramel malt, light to moderate pine and citrus hops, a little fruitiness and alcohol. The initial flavor was very lightly sweet, lightly acidic and bitter; while the finish was moderately sweet, lightly acidic, and moderate to heavily bitter with an average to long duration. There was some sort of citrus then light caramel malt then very sweet malt with a little fruitiness, then some pine and a final finish of citrus hops. The medium to full body was sort of syrupy with lightly fizzy carbonation and a light to moderate alcoholic finish.

Re-rate 12/2/09. Aged about a year and a half. Hazy brown color with a thin tan head. A plum, caramel and toffee aroma with grapefruit coming through after a few whiffs. A pretty well-balanced drinking barleywine. A bit sweet with toffee and caramel (tilting more towards toffee) with some hop bitterness but the aging has mellowed this. There’s also quite a bit of brown sugar sweetness to this. Pretty solid again but yet another American Barleywine I prefer when the hops are fresh. Original Rating: Pours a brown reddish color with a nice fairly thick off white head. Piney hops, tangy fruits and balanced nicely with some caramel malts. A little sugary with some alcohol showing but not a lot. A pretty smooth and easy drinking barleywine but with enough complexity. This is solid. An excellent price for what you get too... about half the price as some others I’ve had recently. Recommended!