Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

1999 vintage sampled in early 2006. Deep orange amber. Nose bready, some sweet fruit. Sugary. Hops are quite muted by this point, good malt base, candyish sugars, some banana and berry. Has aged rather well.

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.

Dark amber color with a beige head. Aroma and flavor of dark fruits/berries, toffee and hops.

Lustrous red orange color with a thick caramel head. Lovely hop aroma with a delightful, subtle malt interplay. This is not a barley wine--how could it possibly be? This, if not an IPA, is an American Strong Ale--and a paridigm for the style. Awesome profusion of hops imparted with a fruity peach flavor. The alcohol is excellently masked. I will be taking this one with me to Golden Gardens grill outs this summer. Superb.

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.

Brown body, small khaki head. Sweetish aroma of gingerbread and rye, malt, muted dark sugar notes. Sweet malt flavour, more prominent dark sugars with light hop bitterness that accents the dry caramel notes nicely. The dryness keeps it from becoming cloying. Medium palate (3+). Quite nice! 7+/3/9/3+/17-18

Pours clear reddish amber with medium white head, mostly diminishing. Aroma is strong Cascade hops. Flavor is same with some sweet malt too. Long bitter finish. Delicious! Not as complex as say an Arrogant Bastard but very good for hop lovers. Alcohol is not apparent in flavor.

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.