Mad River John Barleycorn

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Blue Lake, California USA

Pours a hazy brown color with orange highlights. Minimal head that fades pretty quickly. Smells like a lager. Malty. Tastes malty sweet. I think I actually taste some corn. Anyway, sweet and malty a bit of caramel toward the finish. A bit thick but relatively smooth. A little spicy. Nice carbonation, not too much not too little. It’s ok. More of a classic style BW.

Bottle: Pours a clear copper with a white head. Aroma, boozy notes, caramel, earthy hops. Flavor, buttery, caramel, toffee, earthy and herbal hops on the finish.

This is an excellent, malty barleywine for those who don’t prefer the American hop monsters. The aroma is cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, other spices with a hint of citrus. The flavor is heavenly, it is a silky malt blanket interspliced with hints of aromatic yeast, and expressive, pungent dessert such as bread pudding. To round it off with some kick, the spicy orange aftertaste manifests itself and then gracefully fades.

2-3-08 bottle shared at tasting
Orangish amber color with no head. Smells like orange starburst candy and somewhat chemical infested too. Taste is sweet alcohol and really isnt horrible. Palate is decent - some carbonation yet somewhat still. Just fairly average for me.

Pours a glowing orange and melted caramel color. No head at all on this beer. Smell is of citrus and caramel with flavors of candied orange peel, and caramel as well with a moderate to light prickly carbonation that made it very drinkable. Some light alcohol to mingle with the orange flavors with a nice moderate hop bitterness in the finish. Pretty solid all around, I thought.

There is a definite fruity quality to this beer. The finish is not quite as sweet as some BWs. The mouthfeel was a little light for me, and I like a BW to have a little more body. The flavor is sufficient but there was something about the finish that I didn’t like. I can’t quite place it, or manage to get it down on the page. An overall good brew though, and I felt like it was a bit underrated.

Bottle thanks to footbalm. Pours a dark copper with a thin white head. The aroma is hops and metal. The flavor is moslty hops, some whiskey, assorted metals, some sweet caramel and citrus. Overall, a good BW. Really smooth and quite interesting.

12 ounce bottle. This was a promising barleywine until I tasted it. The pour delivered a beautiful copper-red ale with a spare head. The lacing it left behind was nice to look at. The aroma was primarily a mixture of flowers and Lucky Charms (sweet and grainy), with hints of pear, berries, and alcohol. I was excited. Then, I tasted it. The flavor was mostly orange and brown sugar, with a harsh alcohol flavor. The alcohol overpowered the rest of the flavor once it was firmly entrenched, pushing into the upper reaches of the palate. The wife’s dinner of unstuffed chicken—essentially deconstructed chicken cordon bleu—couldn’t save this ale either.