Mendocino Talon Barley Wine

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

bottle poured a ruby amber color with a thin layer of off white head. aroma has sweetness, brown malt, light spice, and some alcohol. flavor is well on the malted side, light spices, fairly sweet, and some muted hops. there is an odd twigs and berries thing that I cant quite get into and the hops side is somewhat aged in. I have had this bottle for a little while and the time sitting seems to have done this well.

Tasted 2/7/09. Filtered with an amber hue. Web and ring of off-white head. Sweet aromas of graham crackers and cinnamon. Full bodied with sweet malts and a decent alcohol burn. Piney hops, and a good amount of them, too! Sticky finish with a lingering flavor of raisins and toffee. Thick, sticky and syrupy malts with a slight kiss of cocoa. Balanced yet discernible. Tasty, but a little time might be needed to tame the palate.

Bottle at Cole’s in Buffalo, NY. Pours deep amber red with a thin beige head. The aroma is on the lighter side, with sweet caramel malt and just a dash of hops. The flavor is richer, with sweet malt, some fruity notes, and a nice hoppy finish. Pretty good.

Pours a darker amber color with a tan head. Aroma is of caramel, dark fruits, toffee, alcohol, and something strange I just can’t put my finger on. Flavor has more of that strangeness I can’t quite place with some caramel, toffee, slight floral hops, and a decent warming on the finish. Whatever that is that I can’t quite figure out it’s really taking away from this brew. Kind of dissapointed with that.

Pours a milky beer bottle brown with a 1 finger creamy beige head that fades rather quickly to a skim and then nothing by the time the glass is done. Aroma is caramel, molassess, dark malt, dark fruit, chocolate chip cookies, odd earthy notes and lots of alcohol. Flavor is pretty confusing all the way through, lots of clashing and weirdness. Pitted fruit, lime and caramel up front. Maple cookies, herbal hops, dandelion greens, a bit of toffee and bitter hops in the middle. The finish is bitter and very astringent with an herbal bitterness. This beer kind of tastes like they picked the whole prarie and brewed it, rather than just the barley. The body is strange as well ,sticky and medium to thick leading to chalky, herbally bitter and super astringent toward the finish. Are there dandelion greens in this beer?

22oz. bomber from BevMo. Not sure of vintage but glass was dated 05. Poured into a frosty mug. The pour was a cloudy amber brown with a lacy off white head. Aromas of sweet fruits, caramel, hops, and slight alcohol. Flavor is well rounded and smooth. Apricot, sweet malt, syrup, and a warming alcohol finish made this guy a great drinker. I slugged this one down in about 10min. Well done.

22 oz. bottle via trade - Pours a hazy brown color with a 3/4 finger thick light tan head. Light tiny spotted lacing. Aroma is cookie dough malt and a light dose of dark esters. Flavor is sweet malt and esters. Has an odd alcohol aftertaste. Medium body. The finish is hard to overlook. Worth a try.

bottle from total wine. very sweet smell, sweet malt, maple syrup and dark fruit. taste was dominated by sweet malt, brown sugar, dark fruits, fig. no real power in the hops which was disappointing but still a very smooth and drinkable beer.