Mad River John Barleycorn

Very low carbonation. Malt aroma, but very bitter, and not in such a good way. Lots of hops, but the extreme bitterness hurts the palate. Brown color and some sediment.

Bottle. 2007. Never had this fresh so 2 years old is going to have to be my introduction. Pours a copper color with a very small white head. Aroma is fairly standard aged Barley Wine aroma with intense crackery barley, bread, sweet caramel and toffee. A pronounced honey aroma is also present. Flavor is pretty tame and rounded at this point. Smooth with nice cereal malts. No alcohol or at least not much. Malty finish. This is not incredible but it’s certainly a decent example of its style.

Four pack of 12 ounce bottles. This used to come in 6 packs. Pours an awesome dark brown with a thin layer of head that sticks around for the whole time in the glass. Dry spicy hit right away, great bitter aftertaste with more alcohal taste than usual. A great beer to match up with an Old Stock if you got it.

12 oz bottle celebrating harvest 2007. Poured brownish amber with very small head that left no lacing on the glass. Aroma was boozy with rubbing alcohol, malty. Tastes of nuts, rubbing alcohol, dark fruits, lightly sweet. Really just very very boozy.

Beautiful amber pour, nice head. Surprising amount of lacing as well. Deep, malty, sweet aroma of raisins and tobacco. Flavor is similar: raisin, tobacco, earth, a little sour leather at the end, and some other undefinable fruit. Great mouthfeel that hides the alcohol pretty well. I don’t know where you got it, but it’s cheap too. Nice beer.

This actually started out okay, with a dark brown color with a hint of ruby, and a thin tan head that dissipated quickly. Initial aroma was malty sweet dark fruit, as was the first couple sips. THEN THE ALCOHOL GRABBED HOLD!! From about the fourth sip on, all I could taste and smell was alcohol, blended with a thick sweet body. Try as I could, I jsut could not find any other taste or nose, and ended up pouring this one out.

12 oz. bottle from Ludlow Wines. Pours a nice dark amber, slightly cloudy, with a small off-white head. Aroma of caramel, dark dried fruits, alcohol, malt, resin, hops, nuts, and toffee. Flavor is also complex, with a nice balance of all of the above and warming alcohol, with brown sugar and floral notes. Sticky, medium bodied, and smooth. Bottle was about a year old. A nice, complex, satisfying barleywine- not best in class, but better than rated.

Sampled at another monday night football tasting over at scottyp’s. Sampled blind with 6 others. All poured a clear amber red. Best job of hiding the abv. Pretty good example of the style.