Marin Old Dipsea Barleywine Style Ale

Brewed by Marin Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Larkspur, California USA

Thick pour, dark amber brown liquid, resilant light tan creamy head. Nose of cinnamon, dried fruit caramel and flowering hops. Front is sweet fruit, body is caramel fruit and finishes off with some hop bitterness. Tasty stuff.

Deep amber color out of the bottle. Very nice aroma of candi sugar and dried fruit. This beer gave a pleasant alcohol warmth. Flavors of dried fruit/raisens with some red wine and oak. It had a little sharpness to the pallet and seemed young, but still a very good barley wine.

Clear brown pour with a thick head. Aroma is just great with flavors of malt, flowers and alcohol. The taste was almost the same thing with a bit of caramel thrown in. The finish is full bodied with some pepper thrown in for good measure. These guys are good.

Reddish brown in color with an off white head that had some good lacing to it. Rasins and malts mainly in the aroma but with some subtle fruit notes as well. Alcohol was present but there were also the raisins from the nose. Also got some sweetness in there as well. Pretty good over all.

After the Fort Wayne Ale Fest 2004, BigBadBear, Flemdawg, JSquire, Hotstuff, and Silphium came over to my place for a tasting. This was our sixth brew of the evening provided by Mike (BBB63). This brew poured a medium sized head of fine to medium sized light brown colored mostly lasting bubbles that left behind a good lacing. The body was a uncarbonated transparent dark ruby red brown color, The aroma was vinous malty and hoppy. The mouth feel was very tingly with mild malty and hoppy sensations. The flavor contained notes of caramel malts and hops.

Hey! Isn’t that the Moylan’s label? Quite a different beer, though. Poured red-brown with a medium light tan head. Strong, very toasty raisin/caramel aroma. The flavor began with classic piney/citrusy hops, but developed a very sweet, tangy caramel and raisin malt profile, almost nearing soy and/or honey notes. The sweetness and flavor components are reminiscent of Thomas Hardy’s or J.W. Lee’s barleywines and are unusual for an American version of the style. This barleywine also had a very yeasty, "ozoney" (don’t ask me to translate that) feel. Good barleywine, but not great. Thanks Mike (BBB63) for the sample of this brew.

2003: Ruby brown hue with some small particles and topped by a small frothy head which produced good lacing. Beautiful deep aroma with notes of caramel and toffee malts; floral, grassy and piney hops; dusty yeast esters, raisin, vanilla, oak wood, clove, licorice, pepper and allspice. The nose is vinous but not overpowering or burning. The long lasting taste of heavy malts, snappy bitter hops, citrus, and yeast provided very good balance and enjoyment. The mouthfeel is full, oily, astrengent and lively. The alcohol is noticeable but again isn’t overpowering. This is a winner, smooth yet complex barleywine. Mikey likey!

Great barleywine. I like the mild bitterness on the finish, probably from a roasted malt more than a boiling hop. One of my favorites with Old Nick and Hog Heaven.