Left Hand Oak Aged Widdershins

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Longmont, Colorado USA

Draught: Pours an elegant amber brown with a thin head. Tons if fruit in the nose. Black cherries, raspberries, artificial grape, and alcohol. The first thing I picked up were 3 different varieties of wood in the flavor: hickory, oak, and cedar. Then followed smoked malts and a bouquet of dark fruit, with hop notes in the finish. The palate is excellent. Well balanced, smooth, and complex. Very good beer.

Draught. Nose is at first cherries, oak, caramel, and light peat smoke. More fruit, strawberries, light bananas, and some pineapple. Very clear, ruby-colored, with a thin silky head. Slight sharpness opens up to a soft but assertive velvety smoothness. Loads of fruit with some alcohol presense and a bit of hop balance. Chocolate, smoke, raspberries. Amazing for a generally mediocre brewery.

Bottled (9.1%), thanks ante! Cloudy dark amber, enormous head. Vaguely woody nose. Sweet and fairly soft, vastly malty with full body. Lots of caramel, with oak and vanilla chiming in. Warming and quite balanced with an emphasis on malt.

Date: 02/08/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Brusin Ales, Asheville NC

Appearance: hazy dark copper, huge frothy off white head, sudsy lace,
Aroma: sweet caramel and vanilla aroma with light earthyness,
Flavor: sweet caramel malt flavor, touch of sweet vanilla, lots of balancing oak, earthy bitterness rises out of the oak, yeast shot adds a nice bready character,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

Sometimes, I think that unimportant attributes get in the way. Does aroma really significantly impact the way you rate a beer??? Does how a beer catch the eye really determine how much you enjoy a brew??? I hope not. How does it taste??? How does it leave an impression and make you want to buy it again. This beer makes me want to spend an extra $12.50...the oak moderates the aggressiveness of the style and improves the drinkability. Mild, unobtrusive alcohol content with solid flavor. Grab one...

Bottled. 9.1 ABV. Dark copper colour with pale head. Clean malty aroma where crystal malt stands out. Berries also present. Solidly malty backbone in flavour, yet not typically barley wine, lacking in esters and higher alcohols. Jellyish mouthfeel with berry notes(hops). Bock comes to mind. The brave hopping is not very English either. There is a salty flavour/bitterness(from the hops) that makes sure this is American. Good beer but not very reminiscent of a Barley Wine.

Bottled. Vintage 2007. 9.1 ABV. Pours out in a hazy orange colour with a lively lasting white foam. Dense orangey and spicy hops in the aroma with touches of pine-needles, flowers, dried fruit and earth. Full flavour of oak, orangey hops, grass, anise, vanilla, black pepper, wood and alcohol. Full-bodied. Long oaky and peppery finish with touches of orange-peels, mild flowers and apricot. I liked the non-barrel edition but I rank this one a bit higher. Not your typical over-hopped US Barley Wine and the barrel aging just adding some extra components without totally take over the base of the beer.

2007 Vintage, bottle conditioned. Sent a photo to be uploaded. Aroma is heavy on the hops with alcohol, oak, raisin, and some light malts present. Large, creamy, off white head on pour with decent lacing. Murky orangy-brown hue. Taste wasn’t pleasent for me. Very bitter and sour upfront with a strong woody feel, with lots and lots of alcohol. Ultra fizzy carbonation masks anymouthfeel.