Left Hand Oak Aged Widdershins

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

750 mL bottle. Pours burnt orange with big beige head. The aroma is lots of caramel, some rotting fruit, overripe peaches, and a little bit of tobacco. The flavor is overripe peaches, oak, toffee, vanilla, and some sort of, erm, fuzzy character. The finish is warm and woody. Decent, but not really my thing.

2007 bottle. Mostly clear copper color with a huge light tan head. Nice yeasty bready apple aroma with light wood and vanilla notes. Smooth, mellow woody flavors of caramel, vanilla with apple and other pit fruits. A light booziness in the finish adds warmth. Pretty damn good.

2007 vintage, 750 mL bottle, purchased at Stones River Total Bev in Murfreesboro. Poured a hazy amber color with a huge, bubbly, white head that quickly dissipated into a layer of scum. The aroma was mainly sweet malt, but fruity notes of apricots and citrus were present. I didn’t detect much of the oak in the nose. The flavor was very malty with a solid citrus finish. I still never picked up on any major oak aging. The body was medium/full. Overall I thought this was a solid BW, but I couldn’t pick up any of the vanilla/oak notes that should have been there.

(Bottle, 2007 vintage, 9.1%) Amber colour with lasting, frothy, off-white head leaving lots of lacing. Fruity, malty nose with notes of orange peel, dried apricots, caramel and a faint whiff of oak. Malty, fruity taste with caramel, orange, citrus peel, hints of wood and lots of earthy, citrussy hops in a fairly bitter finish. Medium to full body. Alcohol sweetness comes through towards the end. Tasty, nice and warming, as in this case "...saved for a snowy day" as the temperature keeps going down with the snow outside my window. Suits me perfect.

750mL bottle, 2004 vintage. Poured clear, vibrant medium orange with a dusting + a thicker ring of off-white head. The aroma picked up apricot and caramel paired with definite notes of oxidation and vanilla.. OK presentation. The flavor was caramel-based with quite a bit of lighter fruit and citrus present (apricot and freshly-squeezed meaty oranges).. broken down bitterness on the edges and a hint of cardboard appeared at the finish. Medium-bodied with low carbonation and a not-so-memorable feel across the palate.. the fruit in here really kept it interesting, and the oak just gave a little sourness and vanilla.

Bottle. Body-dark iced tea with a lasting foamy off white head. Nose-very fruity, pepper, apricot, orange zest. Taste-not too sweet, unsweet molasses, medium bitter on the back end, medium alcohol, unsweet grape juice, sweetness is really reined in nicely, not a lot of oak, just a hint of wood tannins on the very back end, tea, light LME, some tobacco, low to medium CO2, an almost “Belgian” like yeast profile.

Nice thin head sitting on top. This beer has a big haze. Nice malt aroma, and I can smell the hops as well. Malt aroma dominates. Nice oak taste. It compliments the bittering hops and malts very well. I love the oak aged taste. This beer has a decent palate, but nothing impressive. I like this barley wine. It surprises me that the beer is only in the 89th percentile. Overall, very good barley wine with an awesome oak taste. The oak makes all the difference to me. I love how it mixes with the malts and the hops.

750ml bottle from 2007. Still lots of carbonation after a year. Pours deep orange with a foamy off-white head. Aroma is of wood, hops, alcohol, oak, and fruit. Taste is of hops, citrus, oak, several kinds of fruit, caramel, and some mild underlying rye. Alcohol content isn’t overly prevalent. Thick, stick mouthfeel. The oak aging didn’t take control of this beer, it just blended well with the other flavors. Enjoyable and worth drinking.