Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

2002: Radiant brass shade. Creamy, retentive ring of foam. Aroma of jellied candy, pineapple, cotton, plum, leaf, and phenols; vague caramel, spruce tips, and white grape undertones. Wonderful, seemingly bottle conditoned palate: velvety, softly sappy. Initial leafy, earthy bitterness followed by a subtle tanginess, pine sap, marmalade, maraschino cherry, fig, soft notes of caramel, and wood notes. Long, balanced finish of toffee glazed malts, peppery alcohol, numbing alpha acids, apple stem, soil, tobacco, and accompanying mellow pineapple hop belches. Bready, caramel malts and obscure piney notes emerge as it reaches room temp. Sadly, a very average aroma, but the flavor and palate are nearly flawless. A particularly impressive offering from this redundant brewery.

On tap at The Thirsty Monk. Sweet brown sugar, caramel and toffee. Huge sweet nose with fresh hops that are fruity and floral. Coppery amber clear with thin off-white lacing head. Medium heavy body with medium carbonation. Tastes like caramel and cotton candy with some floral-fruity hops thrown in. Mild warming. Nice barley wine.

Pure madness - from the first sip. Great. Red color, big foamy head. Soft carbonation. Head leaves nice laces on the glass. Nice intense fruity and red berry nose. Wonderful hoppy taste, horse blanket with malt undertones. Sweet kick at the end, medium when kind of bubble gum aftertaste but not unlikely. It is a chameleon - as the lable says, each sip another experience but all of them good ones. It's a great brew and suprisingly the alcohol doesn't come through that at 9.7 % vol.

2004 Bottle - Deep hazed sunset orange, thin white creamy head. Nose held notes of caramel coated orange peel, grapefruit, light pine, and brown sugar, with hints of pineapple as it continued to warm. Rich citric hop bitterness flavors up front that flow into an orange, caramel, light cherry and pineapple tone. Coming in late, a musty sweet caramel tone back the hops to near perfection. Medium to full bodied, sharp carbonation, bittersweet finish. Definitely one of Lagunitas best efforts...

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.

Twenty ’Aught-4 Vintage: Deep ruby-mahogony hue, with a thick foamy beige head, mostly lasting. Sweet alcohol nose, sherry, pineapple, caramel, bubblegum, grapefruity pith, resin. Syrupy body is mouthcoating and quite perfect. Chewy caramel malts, toffee, brandy, bubblegum again, syrupy chewy body, finishing with lusciously bitter hops. Very nicely done. Great balance, great alcohol, great brew, great brewery...What else can I say?

"Twenty ’Aught-8’ Bottle’. Burnt orange beer with an initial cover that dies away quickly. The aroma is orange-soapy, but hints at the high gravity. Once you sip this, there’s no doubt that there’s an alcohol kick lingering here ... this goes down your gullet burning like heated oil. Once you get past that, you start to detect the flavors of rich orange, grape, and smooth sugary malt. Beautiful brew. (#3443, 5/1/2008)

Orange-brown with light head. Aroma that sends you into a trance. Light malt body with a lower than expected spice quotient. Very good indeed.