Moylans Old Blarney Barley Wine

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

2009-12-04. Lightly hazy brown body, modest beige head. 3+ Aroma of fruity alcohol, sweet something, fruit/malt blend. 7+ Flavour is similar, fruity overtones, muddled but pleasant malt core. Odd note to the fruit character is cherry like? 7+ Average to medium bodied palate. 3+ Decent, pleasant. Bit fruitier than my preference but enjoyable. Bottle at Volo, Toronto

Bomber from Total Wine & More Roseville. Pours a murky red-amber with a small to medium tan head. Aroma is sharply sweet-malty, dusty. Not as much fruit as expected. Ooh: This is a hoppy Barleywine! Sweet fruit and malt come at first, but then the hops bring it home with a bitter piney finish. Not the greatest BW flavor ever, but it definitely redeemed itself flavor-wise after the unimpressive appearance and aroma stages... Floral, fruity, malt flavor. Not bad at all ultimately. Average mouthfeel/viscosity/carbonation. In the end, I can dig it alright. Overall, good to very good.

Pours a nice, hazy, auburn color with a canvas-colored, moderately full, pillowy, frothy head which leaves a very small layer of froth throughout and does leave a bit of lace behind. Nose is pleasant and completely not what I was expecting; brown sugar and toffee are most notable, some buttery biscuit notes, toasted caramel, hints of chocolate, lightly spicy wisps of alcohol, hops are floral and lightly citrus with dried apricots, light raisin notes, even some baking spices and leafy hints in the background. The flavor is again quite peculiar and different than I was expecting; it starts with the same buttery biscuits, brown sugar, and toffee, some dried fruits still of raisins and dried apricots, light anise, but slowly the bitterness rises rapidly with other notes coming into the flavor of leafy hops (almost tea-like), spicy alcohols, some floral, dark chocolate, light roast and burnt caramel. The bitterness from the hops and other notes almost blindsides you after the rich malt notes. Palate is good with a medium full body, nearly lively carbonation, very round and velvety mouthfeel, and warm. The finish is somewhat long with the moderately high bitterness making its peak then slowly diminishing leaving some burnt caramels, a slight coffee note, lots of leafy/tea notes lingering, and some almost resinous notes left on the tongue. One of the more interesting beers I have tried a quite a while, very much like a roller coaster ride; the beer had interesting notes in the nose, and then completely changed in the flavor. Yeah, you can say it is not a prototypical BW, not overly hopped, not overly rich, and not similar too most BW’s which rate very high. BUT... some very untypical flavors put together a very memorable BW, at least for me. I am curious to see what this will do in a year; some of the overly hopped BW’s need time in the cellar, and some of the sweeter ones are best fresh but this seems like one that would be good with a short aging period. Completely different from the beer of this style which I seem to favor but still I am pleasantly surprised. Moylan’s has yet to disappoint me, despite some of their marginal RB ratings.

bomber. unsure of brew date but it was sampled 8/1/2009. hazy rich amber with a frothy khaki colored head. one big ol’ ring of foam is left at the summit of the head. lots of brown sugar on the nose... followed by some unusual and unexpected characteristics... spices, bubblegum, star anise, oddly unidentifiable herbs and herbal hops, cocoa butter, alcoholic spice and a charred aroma. the flavor follows weird... burnt ashy charred note which is not a pleasant addition, toffee, spice, melons...yes, melons, iced tea/florals, chocolate, herbaceous-ness and a very dry, bitter, spicy, alcohol laden finish. on the plus side, it’s medium bodied. though it is made drinkable by it’s oddity, spice and alcohol’s ability to thin it out. 5/4/5/3/11/2.8

on tap 9/3/2009 at papago. hazy and chestnut-ish colored with a creamy off white head and painted lacing. it smells rich... cocoa butter, vanilla, caramel and loads of sweet grain are in balance with a spicy dryness, grass, herbal hops and a touch of pine. the palate is not overly sweet though it is still rich and thick. the flavor matches the aroma but throws some chocolate in the mix while dry hoppiness cleans everything up. that dryness lingers and parches a bit while making it really drinkable... not syrupy. 7/4/7/4/15/3.7

A brown beer with a creamy off-white head that leaves lace and doesn’t last. Aroma is quite interesting: I get a lot of dark fruit, dried fruit (figs, prunes, raisins), and some roasty malt notes. Smells kind of like a belgian dubbel. The flavor is proper BW though, dark caramel malts, a healthy amount of hop bitterness, and a kick of alcohol heat. Thick mouthfeel.

Bottle as a great bonus from wavers21. Thanks Terry! Nose is firmly malty with rotting apples that carry into the flavor. Seemed a bit hot throughout which is my mistake. Brendan makes really above-average B Wines so let them sit for a bit. Flavor was very balanced (aside from the alcohol) and even featured a bit of hops.

Murky brown color with a large head. Caramel and toasted malt aroma, and a little pine hop. Nice, strong, sweet malt flavor. Some caramelly tones. Definitely an acidic and hoppy finish. Alcohol is present, but considering it’s 10%, I’d say it’s hidden. As an American style barleywine, it’s pretty solid. I’m a fan of English styles, so I’m letting one chill out for a year or two.

draft @ Uber - 2006 vintage; fuzzy brown with creamy tan head; musky with brown sugar, mild creamy, dank fruit, touch of sourness in the finish; not a trace of booze and medium body; a little on the sweet side, but finish seems a little out of place