Lakefront Beer Line Barley Wine

Formerly brewed at Lakefront Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

6.3 oz [1998 sampling: Deliah’s Chicago (vintage beer tasting, Feb ‘04)]: absolutely still. Strange fruit cake aroma with strong alcohol and strawberry syrup. Totally off flavours of green plants and horribly sour fruits. Not for me at this time.

Starts off with a murky, dark nectarine colored pour with a light white head - wee bit of lacing. Aroma is of alcohol with a bit of caramel sweetness thrown in for good measure. Starts off strong with heavy caramel maltiness and a heavy citrusy hoppiness to it. Near the end of the smallish 6.3 oz bottle though it turns a bit acidic, and bites as it goes down. Overall, not bad, but not one of the better Barley Wines - perhaps I should have aged it 1 year as the bottle suggests.

Caramel malt and sulphurous aroma. Hazy chestnut brown, wee green bottle, good label. Mid-tongue hop and bitter assault, relatively dry and a bit nutty, some butterscotch, better when it isn't ice cold. I didn't particularly enjoy this beer.

2000 vintage Sampled 2/8/2004 - Dark fruit aroma with light hop notes. Barely any head, but enough to give it a creamy top. Copper color with big chunks of yeast... have to pour carefully. Taste is about as expected... some sweeten brown sugary dark fruit, butterscotch. Devoid of extremely interesting/complex flavor, but still pretty good. Alcohol is there, but isn't too bad.
Ar: 7; Ap: 3; Fl: 7; P: 3; O: 14

1997 Vintage Sampled 7/28/2004
Hazy gold/orange color. Not as much yeast as the 2000... in fact barely any. Odd aroma that isn't too good. Like a fake sweet orange hoppy thing with some woody hops. Isopropyl alcohol smell to. I think wet diapers to. Weird. Taste is also a bit off. Bitter orange and wood mostly with some sweetness making it bearable. Alcohol is a bit much to. Blah.
Ar: 4; Ap: 3; Fl: 5; P: 3; O: 9

Copper color with a red tint. Quite viscous, you can detect it in the pour as well as how it clings to the glass walls when swirled. No head or carbonation, although there was a slight hiss when opening the bottle. This stuff is bottle conditioned, so there's some yeast clumps floating about (I left 1" in the bottle). Interesting aroma, has wheat bread and fermented apples. The flavor is big and rough. Brown sugar, vanilla, and a dry woody aftertaste. Slight alcohol burn in the finish, too. Very thick, syrupy mouthfeel. I dislike the alcohol notes and weirdly thick mouthfeel, and I suppose the flavor isn't that interesting either.

2000 bottle. A deep whiskey color, minimal head. A strong heavy sweet caramel fruit aroma. Wow, this needs to be sipped. A silky mouthfeel. Taste of sweet malt, vanilla. Slightly bitter. This has aged very well. Great after dinner drink.

2000 little bottle. I was wondering if this bottle just didn't age well until I saw its rating. It poured a translucent orange with big, clumsy bubbles but no real head. I poured carefully but still got big chunks. Lots of alcohol in the nose with a rum raisen sense to it. The taste was oddly metallic with lots of alcohol, dark fruits with faint butteryness. Stange watery finish. Not very good especially when compared to Fred which I'm drinking now.

Vintage 2002.Pour this brew carefully because it's got an awful lot of clumpy yeast in the bottom that looks unappetizing.It poured a nice orange color with no head.Watching it pour into the glass it looked almost like maple syrup does when poured,thick and syrupy.The aroma is sweet and malty with a nice fruity accent to it,mildly alcoholic.The flavor is strongly malty and alcoholic with a mild fruit presence.It almost tastes like it's a little young,like more ageing would maybe do this brew a little good as far as mellowing and bringing the flavors together.It definately has a slight sweet side but it seems to let the High ABV.get in the way.I don't know if the organic really plays any role in this brew,some people seem to shy away from organics but i like the novelty of it,i mean hell all brews where organic at one time,so this is like stepping a bit into the past.The after taste is fruity and alcohol with a decent hop bitterness.All in all this isn't a bad brew,it just needs a little more time IMO to blossom.Thanks to JPDIPSO for letting me try this rare brew.