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

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.

deep copperish color w/ an off white head and some lacing. Smells of big carmel malt hints of vanilla a full grass hop and smells a bit hot. Full palate lightly oily smooth silky finish. Flavor is pretty sweet full carmel malt a good balanced hop bitterness and alcohol warmth in the finish the hop is fairly grassy hints of citrus as well. Very well done and very good.

22 oz. bottle courtesy of Bockyhorsey - Pours a clear deep amber color with a good one finger thick light tan head which settles to a lasting film. Very light spotty lacing. Aroma is toasted malt, esters, and floral hops. Flavor is cookie dough sweet malt. Has a nice hop presences to nicely balance the flavor. Medium to full body. Slight alcohol warming on the stomach. A very nice BW. Thanks Bill.

22oz bottle. Deep clear amber/ruby with a light tan head that leaves some lacing. Aroma of caramel and toffee, with hints of pine and citrus. The flavor is a big sweet malt base with a bitterness that comes in towards the middle, there is a long finish, very faint alcohol presence. Medium to full body with an average carbonation and a syrupy mouth feel. Overall I’m really impressed with this beer, especially for the price ($4.00 even in Alaska). More of an English style with lots of sweetness but balanced and very drinkable.

Draft. 5 oz flight. Pours reddish amber with a tan, pillowy head. Aroma of vanilla, citrus, pepper, clove, barley, bread and hints of earthy hops. Medium bodied with a sweet, clean mouthfeel. Bold, strong finish. Great barley wine to close out a great tasting at Teresa’s.