Moylans Old Blarney Barley Wine

Brewed by Moylans Brewery & Restaurant
Style: Barley Wine
Novato, California USA

Knock-out looking orange-amber-cherry red with thick, brownish foam top. Lovely bouquet of apricot, tangerine, and cherry with an equally lovely candied fruit flavor most notably of apricot and peach. Hops have mellowed and only impinge in the background.

22oz bomber. Black dirt and brown sugar initially on the nose. A big hop presence. Lots of West Coast hops backed by a loose amalgam of toffee and caramel malt. Decent, but a tad rough. Pours a thick copper/amber with a creamy white head leaving less than spectacular lacing for this style of beer. Massive hop profile on the tongue. Dried citrus, some resin, alcohol with an almost asprin like bitterness. Spearmint and wintergreen gum. A touch of cilantro. Just a faint kiss of malt. Wow. This is one unbalanced and all over the place barley wine. Lingering alcohol on the finish with bitter citrus rind as well. Thanks Mike!

Bomber. Pours a hazy amber/orange color with a thin white head. Aroma of sweet dried fruits, pine, caramel, and sugar cane. Initially sweet in flavor, fading to a bitter citrus finish. The hops are nicely balanced, not overwhelming. Slight alcohol kick at the end as well. Nice and warming; pleasant beer.

Bottle, 22oz. It’s always nice to pop the cap on an American barley wine, expecting loads of everything, and almost always getting it. Old Blarney didn’t disappoint either, even though it’s not world class, but it’s sure a nice brew. It has a lovely hop profile with pine, resin and citrus, but also leaving room for lots of sweetish maltyness, a touch of alcohol and some dried fruits. The beer had an unclear, orange-brown body, with a big, dense beige to off-white head. The flavor was big and malty, with enough hops to balance it, but not so much it was on the hoppy side, with flavors of pine, resin, sugar and beef-stock. Full-bodied and warming. A really pleasant blend of hops and malt, but still it’s too gentle for my likings. (080216)

full flavored and well balanced. Sweet caramel stays smooth all the way into the back, while hop bitterness begins lightly up front and opens up into the finish. Hops are not as flavorful in here as I’d like. They really fit into the spaces in the malt, creating a fruity sweetness but not a floral hoppiness. Nice thick heavy palate. Full flavored, well balanced and smoothly integrated, but doesn’t really establish any new territory. Not hugely complex. I want to really like this, but it just doesn’t give me any reason to get excited.

Bottle from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville. Pours a bronze color with a thin cream colored head. Aroma of brown sugar and hops. Taste is toffee, chocolate, brown sugar and hops. A little thin.

Thanks a lot Tom/After4ever for this one! Dark Copper-brown with a red hue, slightly hazy and the head is delicious and dense. The aroma has notes of malt, caramel, sweetness, fruity hops and dried fruits. The flavour has the same notes, but I also find figs, oranges and other citrus fruits. The finish is slightly dry with notes of grapefruit. It’s very nice, but not quite in the same league as the extraordinary ones.

Beautiful beige cream head. Cloudy brownish/amber color. Lots of yeast, fruits and malts in the aroma. Rich malty taste. Also a some nice fruity notes along with a distinct hopbitterness. Surprisingly spritzy mouthfeel. Fat body. Long malty and bitter end with some alcohol heath. This beer stands out! (Thanks to Yngwie for sharing)