Mad River John Barleycorn

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

Bottle: Poured a deep brown color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of sweet malt with some dry and bitter hops also noticeable. Taste is a balance mix between some sweet malt and some bitter and citrusy hops. I personally like more malt heavy barley wine then hoppy barley wine so this was not necessarily for me. Body is about average with some good carbonation and no sign of alcohol.

Bottle at Stone. Nice malty cookie sweet flavor, and a spruce/pine like presence.

Bottle. Pours cherrywood color with beige head. The aroma is malty and slightly spicy with caramel, chocolate, raisin, licorice, and cinnamon. The flavor is much the same, with a grassy kick to at and some yeastiness. Ok.

12oz. bottle; 2006 vintage; 9.5%. dark amber, copper color. aroma is sweet malt. slight woodiness. flavor is very medicinal. very chocolaty. cereal finish. WOW!

12oz. bottle; 2006 vintage; 9.5%. Poured a dark brown with a white diminishing head. Had hints of caramel, corn, spices, roasted malts, caramel, and a small amount of hops. Finished with a sweet caramel taste that diminished to a hoppy bitterness at the end.

12oz bottle via trade with Brock_Landers! - Thanks John! - Pours dark mahongony with a short offwhite head that fades back to a ring quickly! Aromas of grassy hops over big caramel malts and toffee. Flavor is alot of caramel, and toffee as well with a good amount of brown sugar as well. slight pine as well. Palate is well carbonated but almost sticky sweet. A good sipper. Alcohol is well covered.

12-oz. Thanks, Pitonka! Pours deep dark ebony brown with a thick, moussy tan head. Nice fragrant nose; floral and grassy with big whiffs of pine in there as well. Nice thick grainy body and tingly carb for the attack; it’s kinda fun drinking carbonated barleywine. Rich earthy wet leafy dark fruity and toasty bitter mid-palate, tying off in a nice nutty/toasty/resiny bitter finish with not much linger to it. This is definitely away from all the sweet sticky porty goo common to so many BWs and it makes quite a play of it--tasty stuff.

2006 Vintage at 9.5% ABV. Pours russet colored with some sediment abound. Head of tan arises too around a half inch then fades quickly into spotty clusters. Sweet toffee aromas with caramel in a close second. Citrusy hops with a great floral touch that makes the nose quite lively. Fig, raisin, dates, and prune with a pineapple, grapefruit twist that leads into a maple brown sugar ester. Nice hop bitterness on the mid palate and ending of this but it leaves an unpleasant film that hurts both the taste and mouthfeel. Would probably mellow out overtime and be no problem. Cherry, fig, dates, brown sugar, some citrus although not as showing as the nose, hazlenut, and chewy caramel. Mouth is big, full and overtaking but like mentioned earlier some time to rest is needed. A good barleywine I’d like to lay down for a few years and try again.