Legend Barleywine

Brewed by Legend Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Richmond, Virginia USA

Pour was a dark reddish color with a tan head. Aroma was of dark fruits (fig, plum dates), caramel malts, and a note of hops. Flavor was sweet caramel malts with just the slightest touch of hops. This was all finished off with a smooth alcohol warming (not much).

Pours dark red-orange with a large, thick, white head. Very fruity aroma--fig, plum, and a hint of apple. There’s also some toffee-ish sweetness, light earthiness, and a hint of hops. Very sweet malty flavor, almost like an English Barley Wine, just slightly hoppier. The alcohol is present, but adds somewhat to the flavor. The finish is excellent, with some dry tobacco and smoke flavors. Thick and creamy. Very good.

Bottle. Brown, small head. Aromas of dark fruits, sweet malts, caramel, and fig. Nice flavor! Stars clean, followed by a slight malty figgish flavor, which is followed by a nice mouthful of alcohol... then finishes smoothly. LOVE the lack of alcohol in the finish- really appreciate it in the middle. Good stuff!

Nice barley wine from Legend. Pour was red, good tan head. Nose was fruity and caramel and dark fruit. Good hidden ABV.

’05 bottle aquired in trade by a generous Right Coast RB’er, sorry I forgot specifics. Pours a deep and clear mahogany color. Nice sized beige head forms and fades slowly leaving good residual lacing behind. Deep and broad aromas of prune, plum, leather and modest amounts of oxidation. Full bodied with a pleasant carbonation level. Residual hops still remain strong in flavor, not overdominant, rather a full and balanced bitterness. Malty and pleasant with nice alcohol warmth provided. A bit acidic which is a little distracting but overall nicely done!

2005 bottle thanks to The_Beer_God sampled 9/17/05: Murky, near opaque rusty brown with a small tan head. The aroma has a great blend and balance to it, not quite featuring one scent over another. It does smell very much like an English Barleywine as rajendra82 has noted. Scents of sweet, earthy, and roasted caramel malt blend with figs, alcohol, and hops that become noticable when inhaled rapidly. The taste is alcohol-soaked figs, fruity chocolate, ripe fruit, tobacco, a hint of yeast towards the middle, butterscotch, and a hint of oxidization that blends perfectly with the malty alcohol to give off some wood & sherry qualities. Midway through the beer I also pick up some distinct legend house yeast (fruity, salty) that works quite well in this one. The hops are present, but only in enough quantity to keep the sweetness in check. Finishes sweet and sticking to the palate with notes of dates, tobacco, and then later light fruits. This is by far my favorite from Legend, and probably the best American example of an English style barleywine I’ve tried. This will age quite well. *Update without changing rating 4/16/06* Trying a 2004 bottle that did not age well at all. It’s very possible the recipe changed slightly from year to year, I don’t know enough about the beer to speak to that. I can tell you that my 2004 bottle is not excessively watery, astringent, and is starting to get a bit acidic and stale, possibly showing signs of a small, but lingering wild yeast or bacteria. Hops have faded, of course, but the caramel and malt have faded as well leaving a bitter acidic beer that is bad enough where I can’t finish the 22oz bottle. Very possible I got unlucky here too.

Part of the BIF 18 package from BA pentathlete, this 22 oz. brown bomber with a monochrome printed label screamed craft. When poured beer was very murky reddish brown, and quite a bit darker than most American Barleywines I’ve been running into lately. The head on the beer was smallish to begin with, and did not last much beyond me trying to look at it. Very little carbonation was seen in the beer underneath as well. The smell was more English than American. Figs, prunes, nuts, and earthy hops made this smell like the cellar. The taste was mellow and mature with warming notes of same dark skinned fruits evident via the smell. In addition, there were some oxidized flavors like leather, soy sauce, and tobacco. The hops were subdued, but still in a large enough supply to keep the taste from getting too sweet. The mouthfeel was hefty, dense, and chewy. The alcohol was evident, but not in the actual levels present. Silky smooth and warming in the gullet and the belly, this would have been relatively easy to drink, but the flavor was a bit too tedious to gulp. A good example of an upper echelon English Barleywine, which I could appreciate despite it being not my most favorite style of beer. For true malt lovers, this would be a Godsend. I would prefer a livelier flavor in beer.

Beer pours deep rich red, dark mahogeny color with a well retained tan colored head. Aroma is also rich with lots of malty sweetness, a bit of wood and caramel. Flavor is pretty big with lots of butterscotch, maybe too much. Some nice hop astringency and alcohol notes. Butterscotch finish is a bit overdone, other than that pretty good.