Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

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.

Pours with a substantial, frothy head; nice, heavy citric, doughy, caramel and biscuit aroma; complex malty flavor, notes of toffee, cola, charcoal, and licorice, maybe a hint of smokey/pheonals; ample bitter grapefruit balance; silky and creamy mouthfeel, full bodied; this is an excellent barleywine.

BOttle Pours a deep ruby amber with very littel light tan head. Sheets of very attractive lacing. Wonderfull aromas of caramel, plums, raisons, vanilla and alcohol. Flavor is more pitted fruit, apples, and lots of hops that come up to the front slow ans strong. Leaves a heavy hop aftertaste but more of a warming deep taste as opposed to the sharp bite of an 2IPA. Rich and heavy feel that slides down with a slight burn on the first sip. Very nice. This bomber is going to do me in.

These big, hot, sherry-like beers are an acquired taste for sure. Luckily, thanks in part to a few great offerings from Lagunitas, I have acquired the taste. This one is definitely big, you can taste the alcohol, but the sherry-like notes are predominant in the malt profile. Draught at Circa in High Bridge, NJ 9/1/07. A snifter full of this hot, heady brew after given time to uncool down to 55 or 52 degrees will either put you in a haze or break you out of one.