Mad River John Barleycorn

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

Dark brownish ruby, clear body. Fungal hops and bitter malt aroma. Citrusy fruit loops with some malt. Kind of basic flavor of bittered malt along with some woody fruit and well water. Alcohol is there too, which combined with the mild flavor is meh.

Thanks to Jason for Sharing. Dark pour almost opaque w/ some red and brown hughes. Aroma is a bit light some carmels a touch of pine.. very light. Palate is nice well coated and a bit creamy. Flavor is very mellow for a BW.. some light carmels a touch of dark fruits... not bad just not what I would expect.

12 oz bottle. The aroma is sweet, burnt sugar, but somewhat muted for a barleywine. A nice copper/caramel color. As a barleywine fan, I was expecting more from the flavor. Flavor was too mild to mask the high alcohol content, which led to too much alcohol flavors in the beer. I love the style, and this one’s not terrible, just far from my favorite.

12 oz. bottle. Bread dough yeasty aroma with some sweet malted caramel. Amber body with off white to tan head. Sweet malt, friuty falvor and a zesy spicey bitterness. Good blend for an organic beer. Best Organic beer had so far.

I think this one’s just a tad underrated. A lovely deep copper barleywine, this is a fine example of a hoppy BW that manages to maintain some of the rich complexity of the style. Dates and currants mix in with the lively, frothy mouthfeel. Perhaps not quite as thick as one would hope for - and age may improve this - but a very solid barleywine.

12oz, Celebrating 2006 harvest. Pours a clear caramel orange with quite a bit of particles making it look cloudy. There may have been a minimal beige head, but it was gone rather quickly forming just a ring. First aromas are brown sugar, raisins, and molasses. There is also piney hops, light soy, burnt toffee, and alcohol. Flavor is bitter burnt toffee, raisins, and alcohol with some vinous characteristics. Moderately bitter dry finish. I gave both the aroma and flavor a 7, but I do think it smelled a good deal better than it tasted, though the 7 on taste fits the style accordingly--at least to me. Low to moderate carbonation, full body. I was epecting to rate this low, but it really wasn’t too bad at all.

From a 12oz botle, this poured shockingly dark, although the deep crimson color shows up if you hold it to light. There’s little life to it and almost no head. The aroma is sugary sweet, syrupy and molasses-like. This is extremely rich, sugary and full-flavored, definitely a dessert beer. To my palate of limited range, I’d be forced to say that raisin is the predominate flavor here, although there’s also a tingle of hoppy pine/resin, along with the strong baked sugar strength of the alcohol. (#2770, 4/8/2007)

Pours a nice deep amber red color with a off white head. Aroma is malty caramel, biscuity, with nice bitter grapefruit hops. Flavor is of malty caramel with a nice bitter hop finish. Great mouth feel. Good barley wine just I had some more to age.