Mendocino Talon Barley Wine

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

pours a cloudy burnt orange color with a quickly dissipating tan head. Smells of burnt sugars, molases, toffee and chocolate. tastes of heavy sugar, some burnt matter with some decent hop characters in the background. Very sticky sweet mouthfeel with some tasty burnt toast notes in the end. Not my favorite barleywine, but for $4 a bottle at 10%, this isnt a bad buy. Worth buying a couple and letting em sit a couple years.

bottle. average fizzy quickly dissapating head into cloudy dark red body with minimal lacing. aroma of moderate malts (toffee), candied sugars, ripe dark fruits, light hops, and light chocolate. flavor is bitter throughout. alcohol is very well hidden. long duration on finish with a sticky mouthfeel. Good stuff.

Dark amber color with medium head. Flavor was sweet malt. Little hop bitterness. Candy type aroma.

Pours a beautiful mahogany. Nose is incredible, with a bready pine accent. Smells like pieapple upside down cake! Flavor is similarly sweet, with more malt than pineapple hop influence, with a bit of cookie dough. Alcohol is hardly noticable. A bit of a earthy, gritty finish.

Bomber, not sure of the vintage. Poured a thick, murky medium-dark coppery brown with a dusting and a looser ring of tan head. The aroma had some nice elements, but harsher overt alcohol and light diacetyl knock it down a couple notches.. caramel, maple syrup, and raisins form a sweet core, with alcohol amplifying.. not much hoppage apparent. The flavor was marred by overt, hot alcohol, which blocked some underlying goodness.. caramel and raisins at the base with residual maple and a little chocolate sticking to the finish.. bright alcohol still leads the way at the end, making this feel much stronger than 10.5. Thick and syrupy on the palate with lower carbonation and poor balance. This was cheap, but rough.

2005 vintage opened 6/23/07 -22 oz. glass bottle- color of light mahogany, with a thin tan head - nose of maple, chicken bouillon, brown cane sugar, plumbs, and raisins – taste of plumb, maple, raisins, and cherries- body is chewy, and with low to medium carbonation – aftertaste of light malt, cherries, and plumbs nose b= taste b app b body b- overall 16 2004 vintage 22 oz. glass bottle sample cellared at least three years- opened 10/24/07 - color of mahogany , with a thick tan colored head - nose of elderberries, brown sugar, bright red fruit, and rich – taste of bright red fruit, maple syrup, sweet maltyness, and some earthy- body is medium, and with medium carbonation – aftertaste of red fruit, caramel, and slight hint of hops

Pours dark orange with a nice white head. Smells slightly pungent with spice and vanilla. Malt flavor with caramel and a little medicine taste. Packs a punch with the alcohol noticeable as might be expected. Finishes dry. I must admit I like the strength of the flavor but cellaring would definitely smooth this out to be a repeatable try.

Bottle at Brickseller, Washington DC
Cloudy amber color; almost no head. Good, sweet caramel aroma, mature, hoppy. Full bodied, rich malt flavor, sweet caramel and toffee too, some vanilla, and with the necessary bitterness for a Barleywine. A classic style excellent Barleywine.