Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Bottle.Poured hazy copper with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate caramel tart citrus aroma. Medium body. Medium sweet flavor with a medium complex sweet finish of moderate duration. This is a standout beer.

Bottle. Pours a clear amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty caramel aroma with some hoppy hints. Sweetish malty dark fruit flavor, also lots of hops in the flavor. Sweetish malty fruity piney hoppy finish.

Pours deep ruby/coppery with minimal head. Complex aroma of fruit, berries, figs, toffee, alcohol, and cabernet. Tastes full-bodied, with tons of fruit and a slightly astringent finish as it warms. The alcohol appears, but it never impedes the fruit, malt, or hops. Good complexity. I don’t see this as an elite barleywine, but it is one of the better ones.

Orange amber ale with light moka head. Sweet malt aroma with rich pinhey hops, and citrus. Good hops and malts with nice grapefruit in mouth, vanilla notes, some fruity esters. Very nice. May 2005, Capflu’s BW tasting.

Amber beer with lasting ivory yellow head. Strong bready malt aroma mixed with weaker notes of tangerine and peach hops, and some sweet alcohol notes like sherry. Dry and malty flavour with some hop flavour and bitterness. The malt is bock-like and becomes cloying.

1999 vintage. Draught. Body is murky dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (cookie, caramel), moderately hoppy (resin, grapefruit), with notes of sherry, apricot, and toffee. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Oxidation made this a little less wonderful than I'd hoped, but the alternative in a fresh example is reportedly an enormous west coast hop aroma, so I'd probably take this instead anyway.

Floral, orange-blossom, pine, grapefruit hops are strong in the nose. Clear, mahogany-brown with a light ring of tan head. Thick, sugary, malt flavour with resinous bitterness and strong fruity esters. Medium body with low carbonation. Straight-forward and enjoyable. Bottle enjoyed with CapFlu, Goldorak, Joey_Capps, Olivier_MTL, Lubiere and MartinT.

The body is dark ruby. The vanilla ice cream colored head is frothy and thick. The aroma is rich caramel with a little bit of fresh hay. There is also some light cheese. The taste is rich carmel with some iced tea. There is also a nice chocolate note. The alcohol is not noticeable at all. The rich and full mouthfeel is slightly sticky. Thanks to Kevin for hooking me up with this in a trade.