Lakefront Beer Line Barley Wine

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

Unknown vintage, although it does say 1997, 10th anniversary in tiny lettering at the top. So, I’m guessing that it’s a 1997. Poured some large chunks, but not that much. Nice copper/brown body with a white head. The aroma is very bready, malty, port wine, light smoke. The flavor is quite good. Light chocolate with an oaked palate, sweet barley malts, light caramel. The palate is just as it should be for this beer.

2000 vintage. Poured a light brown with a tint of orage, some particles suspended in the beer still and a thin layer of head that dispersed quickly. Aroma is slightly sweet chocolate malt, orange, caramel and a bit of age. Flavor falls off a bit, seems too off the wall and shocking at first. Alcohol is rather present in the second half, and the fist half of the taste is rather a sweet unfinished malt taste. Reminds me a bit of Triple Bock without the soy sauce component. Interesting beer to sample, unique, and a resonable offering for a 5 year old, but it comes off a bit too distinct for my liking.

2000 Vintage, 6.3 oz green bottle. Solid 1/2+" sludge at the bottom of the bottle. Carefully decanted, but still managed to get some sludge in the snifter. Color was a hazy orangish-amber, and there was no head & little carbonation. Aroma was almost port-like, with dark fruits and alcohol coming through. Flavor is similar to old Bigfoot, but sans some complexity. There was plenty of sweetness, some plums, a little bread, and just a faint taste of alcohol in there. Finish is rather pleasant, though, carrying through some caramel and dark fruit... and it was a slightly warming going down. Aroma and flavor become much more pronounced as this warms. Certainly better than expected!

ok, im not sure which vintage this is but im assuming 1997 since it says tenth anniversary on the bottle. i was a little hesitant since some of the ratings looked shaky and the huge glops of junk in the bottle of this, so i carefully decanted from the bottle trying to leave the sediment inside. minimal carbonation. nose is of apple with some carmel. taste is mostly tart apple and is quite sweet at first. this turned out ok, though probably has aged too long.

Small bottle, 1997 & 2003 (I think) side by side. I dont see how the ratings on this are so low. The ’97 held up nicely. In fact, the color on the 97 is a bit lighter then it’s younger brother. The ’03 is a bit more bready and the ’97 tastes more like an old Bigfoot. Maybe they lose the green bottles.

(6.3 fl. oz. bottle) Pours a lightly cloudy and particulate amber body with an average off-white head. Malty aroma with brown sugar, oak, and alcohol. Flavor of caramel, alcohol, raisins, and spicy fruit cake.

10th anniversary vintage?. Precious little bottle. Pours a hazy light amber with a small white head and LARGE white chunks of yeast, some 3/8" across. Sharp and carmely in aroma. Flavors of multi-vitamin, some bread and caramel. Some bitterness and sourness in the finish. Fruit comes out as it warms. Not so great.

ah, it’s a poor puny looking little fellow in it’s wee 6 ounce bottle-- a yet gazing through the bottle, one can see a sedimentary clay-like substance piling up in a three-quarter inch mudslide along the bottom--and it tells of things far greater than the misleading smallness. you could sink a plow into that muck. this is the 2000 vintage, an exceptional year for northern sunshine and pollinating bees and happy hops grown as big as walnuts. lifting the top, the pent-up carbonation emitted a brief exclamation that sounded like squirting water between your teeth. beerline pours thick, like an egg yolk in bourbon, with a thin silken veil of foam, pocked by just a few gaping bubblettes. the aroma lurches up so quickly it could put your eye out: sponge cake yellow malts with strawberry and chocolate; a musty note has some raw bakery yeasts and cornbread. a bit of mustard seed hitches a ride along with the high-balling oaky bourbon. it’s flavor is indeed sweet to the extreme, but well backed with aged apricot and chain-mailed alcohol, plus enough bitterness to twist the tongue into some gravity defying yoga positions. i always feel a little self-conscious when i have to hurl myself against the grain on a rating like this, but i’ve had several bottles of the 2000 beer line and they were each very enjoyable. that’s my story, and i’m sticking to it.