bb (2905), Martinez, California, USA Oct 15, 2009 Bottle. 2009. Amber-mahogony beer with a dark cream colored head. Whiskey and rich malt aroma. Rich malt and whiskey flavor with light fruit and light smokiness. Fuller bodied. Rich malt and whiskey lingers with light cocoa and light smoke. tjthresh (1740), Greenfield, Indiana, USA Oct 3, 2009 Pours dark clear brown. Buckets of hops in the nose with chocolate covered caramels. Some nice cherry as well. This thing has tons of hot alcohol, but there’s still plenty of malt and hops. Good stuff, but I’d hoped for better. joeneugs (282), Livermore, California, USA Sep 30, 2009 Dark red brown color with a tan head. The aroma is strong with cough syrup, plum, cherry, caramel, and molasses. Lots of particulates in a very thick and syrupy brew: flavors of molasses, cherry cough syrup, caramel, and lots of alcohol abound. A very potent beer. zizzybalubba (335), Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA Sep 27, 2009 Bottle shared at Logan’s pre-GABF party. Light brown pour. Toffee, brown sugar, and grapefruit aroma. Syrupy sweet and pineapple flavor. Much better than my mediocre description. An outstanding barleywine. Guerde (693), Welcome, Minnesota, USA Sep 19, 2009 (bottle from Sparky27, thanks Eric!) Pours out an extremely muddy brown with just a light off-white head and some legs are displayed when swirling. Aroma is just big on toffee, caramel, peanuts, vanilla, shredded coconut, and wood. Further warming reveals scents of raisin, a touch of oxidation, hot caramel, and a ton of vanilla upon swirling. Gets a little bit hot, but this doesn’t dominate. The barrel, however, does begin to make its presence known, and really dries the aroma out. Taste begins with sweet caramel, raisins, prune, and some cola right before and a bit during the finish. The finish also possesses some barrel character, and the light bitterness reminiscent of an Assam tea. Amazing. Thanks again Eric! Glouglouburp (2778), Montreal, Quebec, Canada Sep 1, 2009 In short: A big sweet decadent American barley wine with a nutty and woody twist. Almost excellent.
How: Bottle 22oz. Aged unknown but consumed only a few months after I received it from MrChopin. Thanks a lot Kevin
The look: Almost clear very dark ruby body topped by a small beige head
In long: Interesting nose of rich sweet caramel, woody hops and alcohol. This beer smells “big”. Taste is heavy crunchy caramel, dry toasted malts, brown sugar, brownies, graham cookies, dried dark fruits, almonds, wood barrel, some porto. Alcohol is a bit apparent. Somewhat reminiscent of Angel’s Share (the not-problematic 2006 batch). I’m usually no big fan of boozy unbalanced mega-sweet beer but this one has a lot of complexity. Aging potential here. I don’t know if my bottle was fresh or aged, hard to tell with such a strong sweet beer. The bottle only has the bottling day and month but not the year. The beer wants to know when its birthday is but not how old it is. Clearly this beer is a woman. ucusty (1865), Wake Forest, North Carolina, USA Aug 30, 2009 2007 vintage. Muddy brown pour with fluffy beige head and spotty lace. Aroma of caramel, dark fruit, and vanilla. Complex flavor and an outstanding english style BW. Caramel, peanuts, dark fruit, chocolate, and caramelized sugar sebletitje (1880), Tampa, Florida, USA Aug 30, 2009 Props and cheers to ibrew2or3 for sharing this fantastic beer.
Pours dark brown, off white head.
Aroma is malty with hints of roast and caramel. Hints of barrel and whiskey. Overall sweetness lingering in the nose is amazing.
Flavor, palate was elements that reminded me of ST Creme Brulee, it was overly sweet and filled with goodness, get some peanut butter, caramel, plenty of sugar with lots of malts and roast. Boozy as hell. Finish is thick and sticky, superbly roasted and caramelly. Overall barrel mouthfeel was weak and added a nice warming whiskey note to the palate without overpowering the whole.
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