Max Old 320 Barley Wine

Brewed by Max Lagers
Style: Barley Wine
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Pours a transparent dark copper mahogany with a thin-lacing wispy off-white head. Sweet sugary caramel malty aroma has a mild piney hop character. Starts with a nice viscous caramel malty sweetness and good grapefruity bitter hoppiness. Finishes lightly sticky and warming. A decent barleywine, but could use a little more complexity.

Caramel and Lots of cane sugar to make it drinkable and give it some unique but not necessarily interesting flavour as well. West Coast influence is presence of hops throughout.

Had at the restaurant and on cask at ’06 cask ale challenge on the same day. </br>Draught: Slightly hazed mahogonay color with a small off-white head. Cirusy hop aroma with a good bit of sweet malt underneath. Some fruit mixed in with the caramel. Hop flavor was citrusy and acidic. Caramel malt is riding underneath. The hop flavor grows as the malt finishes. Pretty long bitter finish. Nice warming sensation. A little on the thin side though.

Had this at the brewpub in Lville. I found it to have a very strong hop and alcohol aroma. Very hoppy taste, very bittering with some earthy malts. Alcohol is evident in the taste and this is a pretty good sipping barleywine.

Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting Poured a thin brown with almost no head. Little aroma for a barleywine. Lightly sweet and little complexity or depth. Very light and thin overall.

Like aracauna, I passed on this at the Cask Ale Tasting but had it at lunch (on tap at Max Lager). Thought it poured a hazy amber/chestnut with wispy lacing. The aroma did not do a lot for me (and the fact that chicken wings had just arrived may have lessened my sensitivity) but I noted a light hop presence and hints of sweetness. Lightly malty and sweet on initial taste. Hop presence was not pronounced but included spice and spruce. Much lighter than the American style barley wines I’ve had but very drinkable. Medium body with a crisp dry mouth feel.

I didn’t try this at the Atlanta Cask Ale tasting, but I did have a pint of it with lunch earlier in the day. The beer pours a nice reddish brown with a creamy head that’s a bit small, but does stick around for a while. The aroma is big caramel, fruits, a touch of toast. There’s a bit of a bite from the hops in the back that keep this from being straight up British style, but the hops aren’t really big enough to be West Coast American Barleywine. This is actually a bit on the lighter end of the style in body and that overworked yeast fruitiness that a characteristic of many of the traditional barleywines.

On cask at the 2006 Atlanta Cask Ale Fest. Pours brown/red. Nice hop aroma. Flavors dominated by caramel, wood, a little vanilla, and some alcohol warmth. A little thinner than expected, but not bad.