Max Old 320 Barley Wine

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

On cask @ the Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting 2006. This beer is really good and drinkable for a barleywine. Great hop aroma and flavors. More slanted towards hops than malt. One of the top three beers @ the festival.

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.

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.

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.

Slightly cloudy chestnut body with a thin, slighlty persistent white head that produced fairly decent lacing. The aroma was hoppy, but not extraordinarily so. Light pine and fairly powerful earthy spice dominate the subtle, toasted grains and sweet toffee malt. The body was probably the most impressive part, as it much more full bodied and enjoyable than the others I tried from Max. The flavor was restrained, but well balanced. The moderately bitter hops and sweet malt each had equal opportunity to shine. The finish was long and fairly warm with the 9.8% alcohol. While I remember seeing something about how this was inspired by west coast Barley Wines, I had trouble finding the similiarites. The bitterness was relatively low and nothing seemed to be up front and assertive. It was, however, great to see them trying something in this new era of high gravity beers in Georgia. Perhaps a few more attempts will see this Barley Wine really grow into something great.

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.

Cask: Pours a deep amber brown color with a tan head. Aroma is caramel, toffee, and some hops. Flavor is malty, caramel, and a bitter earthy citrus hop finish.

Color is a nice clear reddish-brown. Aroma is strong and malty, not complex but promising. Flavor is strongly malty with quite an alcohol bite - typical of a barleywine - and a hint of caramel or toffee. Texture is smooth but a little edgy, and it goes down with a hint of liquid fire.