Merchant Ale House Skullcrusher

Brewed by Merchant Ale House / Murray Street Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Saint Catharines, Canada

Another one with three years between rates, and a drastically different beer in my eyes from what was described in previous ratings. On tap at the Merchant Ale House. Pours a hazy dark cola brown with a faint crimson hue to it and a medium sized creamy tan head. Dark chocolate, plum. Light coffee, lots of milk chocolate, light dark fruit. Finishes with a nice light roast and sweet chocolate. Rather tasty.

Draught at the Merchant Ale House. Dark ruby-amber. Aroma is fairly roasty, with some tobacco & smoke & a bit of coffee. Flavour is muted, with some mild coffee and roasted nuts. Not sure what they were going for here - we’re pretty sure they said it was a barley wine, but it seemed more like a brown ale. Whatever it’s supposed to be, it wasn’t overly impressive.

Draught. At Merchant Ale House, shared with jerc and GregClow. Poured murky ruby-brown with a thin light brown head - looked more like a porter. Aroma of roast nuts, mild coffee and chocolate, prunes, dry hops - dry and sourish (too cold out of the tap, took forever to warm up). Flavour was similar, with more sour fruit and dry stale hops - roasty, but stale. Mouthfeel very acidic, fizzy, not any alcohol to notice (barleywine???). Seemed more like a sour dunkel than anything else. Didn’t hate it, wouldn’t have it again.

Black body, very small tan head. Very mild roast aroma, touch nutty. Takes forever to warm up, and the aroma of cocoa and malt is very muted even after. Flavour has a dry chalky roast and slight acidity that lingers in the finish, leaving the most lasting impression. Average palate. Not what I was expecting really - I figured it was a barley wine but this was similar enough to their stout that I had to ask for a side by side comparison to confirm that they were in fact different brews. Disappointing.