Mash House Barleywine

Brewed by The Mash House Restaurant & Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Fayetteville, North Carolina USA

Draught sample at the brewpub. A bit of wispy head retained through to my tasting of this sample at the finish of my evening, lots of crystalized sugar lacing the glass atop the oily thick amber body....sweet, complex nose with seemingly both citric American and more subtle earthy English hops, mint and brown sugar, enticing....very sweet initially, lightly syrupy but not cloying mouthfeel, with a dark woody hop profile gradually coming to dominate....as it warms, peaty and faintly smoky earthtones intrude on the bitterness and create a fairly interesting, well-brewed and very drinkable experience.....finish is somewhat mineralic, harshly bitter and long. Really quite beautiful example, probably the best beer I had on my April 2006 southern trip.