Nasu Kogen Nine-Tailed Fox Barleywine

My Bottom Line:
This classy Barley Wine whispers its apricot fruitiness and caramel maltiness into its relaxed body, while the low carbonation and warming alcohol lure the unassuming drinker into enjoying another conversation.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A slim ring of foam dissipates into the clear pale orange.
-The nose is quite shy for such a potentially potent brew, offering barely a few honeyed cereals and scant fruitiness.
-The fruitiness, low carbonation and lean body would surely please a wine lover too.
-Alcohol is well concealed for this strength.
-The finish is quite disappointing; some cereal sweetness returns, and hops are pretty much absent.
-I am told the 1998 vintage, rated by a few guys here, was far superior to this 2005 vintage. Oh well. Can’t get lucky all the time!

2005 vintage, on tap at Popeye’s.

On tap at Popeyes. From 2005. Orange amber color, nothing but a few bubbles floating on the surface. Very sweet vinous aroma with sweet malt and caramel. Powerful flavors of caramel, citrusy hops, and a distinctive woodiness. Sticky, sugary mouthfeel. Very smooth and soft initially but finishes intensely dry. A very serious beer. Understandably served 50ml at a time.

Draught, 2005 vintage. Pours reddish gold with no head. Aroma is sweet malt, yeast, citrus fruit, caramel, chocolate, and alcohol. Medium mouth. Flavor is a slightly muted version of the aroma. Malty, fruit, chocolate, nutty. Had a great time with this one.

Tap, 1998 edition. Innocent looking orange, big and lasting head. Astonishingly complex nose of yeast, cheese, some chocolate, leather, mangoes. Wow! The flavor is slightly tamer than the aroma but still great. Some guezish qualities but with more alcohol presence as well as even some chocolate-cherry stout characteristics. Hard to believe it’s 12% at the same time. Surprisingly smooth finish.

1998 version on draft at Popeyes. Light amber color with a thick creamy white head. Could pass as your average amber ale just based on looks. However, once you get a whiff of the nose you know this goes from ordinary to extraordinary. Cherries, brandy, chocolate, pears, oranges, toffee, caramel nuts. It reminds me of some type of delicious liqueur filled chocolate with a million things going on. I love it!!!! The mouth is very malty with nuts, oranges, chocolate, cherries and rich, but very surprisingly it is extremely light bodied for 12%. The finish is very warming, like sipping a good brandy. The nose is misleading. It would easily get a 19 or 20 if the body had followed through. Still a 16 aint bad.