Mad River John Barleycorn

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

2005 bottle. Red mahogany hue with a modest, receding beige head. Prominent whiskey notes in the aroma, plus light vanilla, maple syrup, alcohol, and mild danky hops. Flavor is moderately sweet and toasty with a bitter and partly drying wood-stem finish. Relatively meagre body for a barley wine. A solid belly warmer, but unremarkable.

2005 Harvest, courtesy of bditty187. Pours a dark red tinged brown, with a two finger off-white head that settles slowly to a thin cap and leaves behind tons of thick lacing. Smell; sweet caramel malts, citric and piney hops and there’s some dark fruity aromas as well. Taste; a rather strong alcohol taste on the first sips, along with those hops, which have hints of grapefruit and pine trees. Sweet caramel and toffee, with a nice touch of cherries and figs. The alcohol presence fades quite a bit as it warms, making this quite drinkable. Mouthfeel is medium to full, and almost velvety smooth.

Dark amber brown pour topped by a 1-finger off white non-persistant head. Strong citrus hoppy aroma mixed with malty sweetness (IPA like). Thick mouthfeel. Nutty caramel taste followed by a nice hop bitterness. High abv apparent.

Pours dark with a nice head. Aroma is very complex, mostly of bourbon and chocolate. Mouthfeel is thick and taste is hoppy. Would be amazing but hops are a bit too influential in this one.

This was an odd one. It smelled great - lots of aromas, each distinct - cherry, bourbon, caramel, vanilla, chocolate. But the flavor - it was impossible to tell what all was in there, it was just a big muddled mess. Very disapointing considering how good it smelled.

Bottle, 2006 version,from Raleigh WholeFoods. Ok aroma. Sweet Kind of rum like, maybe I should say dark & stormy like, Little nutmeg, Caramel, canned tuna (yes I know what I typed) little orange. Dark brownish orange colr, small head that faded quickly, no lace. Sweet flavor, like aroma, but gets a graininess. little soapy, little woody too. Medium body, Creamy oily mouthfeel, dry woody finish. Huh, intersting. Not one I’d run back for, but can’t hate on it either.

12 ounce stubby bottle purchased from Monument Wines in Concord, CA. 2006 vintage. Very faint aroma that has some light tobacco notes, a little sweet caramel notes, but this is relatively difficult to smell. Moderately transparent dark amber body with a medium yellow-tan head that is relatively quickly dissipating. Virtually no head. Quite sweet, sugary, to start. Becomes grainy, roasted, and earthy in the middle. Some ethanol follows later. Finishes with some weird, rubbery, burnt tobacco flavors. Plenty of burnt roastiness. I don’t know. This is a pretty sweet, straightforward barleywine that lacks complexity and hops.

Tap... hazy, brownish/red with a big head. Sweet hoppy aroma. Excelent flavor balance of hops, malts and sweetness. Other flavors of citrus fruits and spices.