Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

22oz bomber. Pours a gorgeous, deep, clear ruby red with a thick, pillowy, tan head that lasts forever and leads thin wisps of lace all along the glass. The aroma is thick and potent - caramel and malts first, pine and alcohol second. The flavor starts with evergreen hop flavor combined with a big ol’ wallop of malts. The malts are lovely and complex: molasses, chocolate-covered caramels, toffee, and dark Karo syrup. There is a good bit of residual sweetness and a good bit of fruity esters (even a subtle, fleeting note of bubble gum). The combination is quite nice, and the hop flavor is everpresent throughout. By mid-palate the malts are giving way spicy and piney hops and bitterness. The finish is very full and rich with a lot of caramel and a lot of hops (chinook or simcoe). The mouthfeel is velvety and quite full with just enough carbonation to give the beer some depth and extra texture. Overall, a fabulous american barleywine.

Pours medium copper red with a 2 finger peach-tan head that has good retention. Aroma is citrus, caramel, overripe apple, crusty bread, dark fruits and lots of brown sugar. Flavor is mandarin orange, grapefruit, caramel, dry roasted nuts, a little pine, cannabis, mango, brown sugar and some woody notes. Finish is brownsugar covered, caramel filled grapefruit. Palate is thick and sticky with a thick, sweet finish. Overall a highly drinkable, but somewhat uninteresting barleywine with a nice hop presence.

22 ounce bottle. Smelled like courant, maple syrup, caramel, chocolate and port. Taste is too sweet in the beginning but gets much better as it goes down. Mouthfeel is very fruity. Solid example of the style.

22 oz. bottle from "twenty ’aught-6". Pours a cloudy amber with a big khaki head that leaves a little lacing. The aroma leans toward the hoppy side of things. Grapefruits, lemons and some oranges dominate, but there is still some caramel, malts, vanilla and alcohol in the aroma too. A medium, smooth body. The initial taste is quite sweet with plenty of plums, caramel and sugar. Finishes with a decent amount of hoppy bitterness, a little graininess and the SLIGHTEST hint of alcohol.

Couleur ambrée parsemée d’une dense mousse blanche et crémeuse. Profil aromatique plutôt houblonné, floral, résineux et agrumes sous un fond oublié de mousse de tourbe et de terre. Profil gustatif penchant plus vers le sucre, réminiscent du sucre à la crème et de la cassonade, tout en conservant une bonne part de résine et d’amertume. Alcool facilement perceptible en retro-olfaction. Nettement moins sucré que leur Brown Sugga.

One of the last Lagunitas beers to show up in Georgia, Olde GnarlyWine came in a Limited Release 22 oz. bomber. The copper colored body was hazy and alive with lots of carbonation streamers. The dense head was good looking at two fingers thick, and growing. The smell was indicative of the generous hopping rate used in the recipe. It was not a piney and bitingly resinous hoppyness in the nose like the Bigfoot I had just yesterday. Instead these were softer, citric, and somewhat earthy hops. The taste was quite a bit sweeter than what I was expecting from one of the big boys from the West Coast. The residual sugars from the wort were still pretty evident, and the spicy and earthy hops could not provide and equal match up. The fruity richness of drizzled pears, apricots, and peaches came in wave after luscious sticky wave. Quite a full mouthfeel with a tinge of sourness in the finish. Rich, rich, rich, but will perhaps prove too sweet for some people.

Bottle. Poured a brown amber with a red tint and minimal head. Aroma was full of grainy notes as well as some sweet notes. Flavor was thick with a strong malt flavor and underlying alcohol notes. Nice and thick on the tongue.

2004 vintage on tap at the Falling Rock for barleywine month . The color was a light orange with a creamy head. I couldn’t smell much but that may have been due to the beer not being in a proper snifter The taste was a little sweet but delicious. The mouth-feel was the absolute best part, so creamy and smooth. My only complaint was that the bartender brought it to me foaming over. This is the Falling Rock, supposedly the best beer bar in CO and the bartender can’t pour a beer properly? My glass was kinda of sticky which is not a good thing. Shameful. I wish I could find this in bottles here in CO because it seems to age well. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 02-22-2007 18:22:12