Mendocino Talon Barley Wine

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Hopland, California USA

22 oz bomber to celebrate yet another new employment. Pours a nice looking deep dark reddish brown/amber, with a quickly diminishing orange head . Aroma is rich sweet malt, much like a scotch ale. Flavor is also sweet rich malt with a little alcohol burn, and a lightly bitter finish. A good caramel hit along with roasted grain. Barleywines seem to have such a wide disparity of flavors, aromas, and textures, and this one is considerably different from others I have had. I like it. I’m becoming a real fan of Mendocino. You can tell right away that a 22 oz bottle will drop a hammer on your head. But that was the idea, anyway! Cheers! $3.99 at Total Wine & More, Jacksonville FL.

Nice beer. Kind of thin mouthfeel for a barleywine, especially considering the 10.5%. Pours a clear brown with no head. Strong caramel and darker fruits in the aroma, with some brown sugar. Taste is good but not balanced. Syrupy sweet up front that gets more sour than bitter towards the back. Kind of a woody flavor as well. Alcohol is masked well. Good, not great.

This was a very smooth BW. The sweet syrupy flavors were toned down by just enough hops. Crisp and dry finish. Really good.

Bomber. Pours a dark amber, relatively clear, with a minimal head. Aroma is strong maltiness with dark fruit, plums, raisons and caramel. Flavor is more of the same....big caramel, dark fruits, obvious alcohol. Overall, a very good barleywine. It’s nice to get one where the hops are not the dominant feature. Lots of malt, lots of dark fruit. Balance isn’t perfect, but still very good.

Pour is a very dark red with a tan head. Aroma is dark fruits with mild hops. Flavor is extremly fruity with some malts and the hops show up in the end. Very thick with some brown sugar at the swallow. Alcohol is there but not in an overpowering way. A spot on example of the style.

From a 22 oz. brown bomber bottle with a blurb on the neck label, no bottled/freshness date. Made a good appearance, poured a dark reddish amber with a foamy beige head that settled into a thin bubbly lacing, minimal amount of sticking, good carbonation. Had a nose of raisins, caramel malts and fusel-like alcohol. A thick creamy full bodied mouth feel, average barley wine drinkability. Fermented raisin and caramel malty tastes that get lost when the fusel alcohol taste comes on, the alcohol is not that well masked, a bit grainy, the hops seem to lost in the alcohol and a molasses and fusel finish. Not the great of a barley wine, bland tasting overall, something I doubt I will again.

Nice clear amber color with thin off white head. It has a typical Barleywine aroma: rich, sweet, malty, a hint of hops and a bit of alcohol. Seems right on for the style and heightens the anticipation of the first sip. Yep, first sip and it is good. Full mouth feel, chewy. It has the sweet fruity-ness of maybe grapes or cherries. Then comes the caramel and molasses roasted malt flavors. To keep it interesting some hop bitterness is bouncing around the taste profile. The finish has a dry biscuit malt flavor along with some residual bitterness and alcohol warmth.

Rusty red appearance with a tiny head and minimal lacing. Sweet malt aroma was a mix of dark fruit, caramel and brown sugar. Fairly complex taste see-sawed between citrusy hops and sweet malts before finishing like a dessert wine. Did not take long for the alcohol to kick in over the warming, lingering final few sips.