Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

Bottle (2004) pours a viscous translucent reddish hued dark amber, medium off-white foamy head, lovely lacing, with very light carbonation.   Sweet alcoholic nose with only a subtle hint of bready malts.   Very thick and viscous on first sip, with a sharp hop bite that quickly settles to a nice super sweet malty background.   This one I think will age very well.   Full bodied with a very viscous mouthfeel.   Slightly cloying, but I think over time that will mellow out to produce a fantastic Barley Wine.   Finishes sweet, with a bready maltiness that hangs on.   While the alcohol is noticable in the aroma and on the tongue, it isn’t sharp nor detracting.   I think I should pick up more of this to lay down for a while.   YUM!

2008 Release; Sampled June 2008
A standard pour produces a three-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The head is hop-sticky, leaving a nice lace pattern on the sides of the glass and subsiding with a creamy dense consistency. The beer is a clear, deeply red stained, amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, cranberry stained, metallic copper hue when held up to the light. The aroma is quite redolent of hops as even as I pour this I notice sticky hop notes oozing from this beer. The nose is a mix of candied orange peel, big lychee, grapefruit and berry-candy. A solid backdrop of spruce, candied pine and floral aromatics are tempered by sticky, sweet, amply caramelized malt sugar aromas. Toasted malt notes of bread crust and biscuits are found in the far finish. This has a nice mix of big hop character and sticky, rich malt aromas that put the nose squarely in the Barleywine camp (as opposed to a Double IPA for instance, this just has too much malt character).

Sweet and aggressively hoppy, this is a hop lovers wet-dream. A creamy, viscous thickness is not really tempered even by the aggressive, almost fizzy carbonation. The hop flavors here are dominated by citrus and tropical fruit flavors; lychee, apricot and a huge candied citrus mix of ruby-red grapefruit, bergamot and sweet, ripe tangelo dominate the start and middle of each sip, towards the finish a sharp, menthol / herbal hop bitterness becomes noticeable, but it doesn’t drown out the sweet hop-fruit flavors. This has a very clean malt character, the malt flavors are as complex as the aroma might have suggested; really though it is just that the hop character is too big to pull a lot of nuances from the malt notes. The malt provides lots of sweetness to accentuated the hops and lots of viscous mouthfeel that makes this a chewy brew.

This is quite a nice Barleywine, it has a really clean, hop fruit character to it, by which I mean that this is not overly aggressive in its hop character. The bitterness and herbal / pine flavors are much subdued comparatively, though they are still certainly present. This is actually fairly quaffable for such a big beer, in fact it is a rarity that I wouldn’t mind tackling the entire 22oz bottle on my own. Simplistic, sure, but fresh it is just so enjoyable and hoppy, yet with ample smooth malt character, this is a great way to spend an evening.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

Pours a three-finger light tan head, fades slowly and leaves some lace. Clear amber color. Light carbonation and heavy bodied. Nose is woody spices. Starts with a semi-sweet flavor, body is quite viscous, almost syrupy, smooth with a bite at the end as some hops kick in. $5.45 for a 22oz bottle from Colonial Spirits Acton, Ma.

Beatiful ruby/brown pour with a creamy tan head. Sugary sweet aroma with a huge boquet of hops. Full bodied. There is a lot going on here in the flavor department. Dried, dark fruits. Brown sugar. Citrus, piney hops. Sweet malty finish. Alcohol is definitely in the house here, warming and strong. This is an excellent barley wine.

22 oz bomber of the 2004 version. 9.8% ABV. Ruby copper coloured beer, crystal clear with a thick yellow head that leaves a ring of sticky lace. Very sweet candyish, with orange aroma. Honey, biscuit malt, brown sugar. Flavour is very malty, cookies, biscuits, and bread with sweet caramel and orange peel. There is enough bitterness to round it off, but the hop aroma is subdued showing only a hint of spice. Well-balanced and easy-sipping barleywine, and a steal at this price. Nice warming finish.

A big thanks to kramer17801 for this bottle. poured a a nice brown with a off white head that left some lacing. aroma, caramel, alcohol ( one of the things I like about barely wines), malts, med dark fruits. flavor the nic balance of malts and fruits was nice. the alcohol was burn was nice. would like to get some more of this.

Bottle shared with GregClow, Blankboy, Hogtown Harry, Jerc, and Mabel, courtesy of Blankboy. Strong malt aroma, tons of alcohol as well - oh so very nice. Dark brown, medium foamy head. Great taste - tons of malt and alcohol. Long complex linger. What a balanced great tastting Barleywine, more please.

22oz. bottle. Murky brown color with a small tan head. Nice and sweet malty aroma with lots of caramel and a touch of hops. Flavor is again dominated by the caramel malt(in a great way) with a bitter hoppy finish. Very nice.