New Glarus Tail Wagger

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

Pours a clear deep copper color, topped by half an inch of cream colored foam. Frothy for a while. Sudsy for a while. Foamy for a while. Missing for the duration. Sparse lacing. Sweet malty aroma. Distinct? Nope. If I’d never had a barleywine before I might be impressed. But I have. Plenty! And this is just generic for style. Some toasted malt. Eh. Some caramel malt. Eh. The flavor is more impressive than the aroma, but that’s not saying too much. Sweet and malty - toffee, caramel, more toffee, more caramel. Some hops for balance. But not really. A bit too sweet. Ehhh... Whatever. Fuller body, moderate carbonation.

A: Rusty Red hues. Scarce Head. Cloudy S:No alcohol burn I expected. Brandy-like esthers with oak overtones T:There’s the burn, but smooth. Roasted Hops and Oak. Warming Caramel M:Spicey on the tongue. Mellows as it warms D:Great sipping Beer on a winter night.

FAR too sweet for me. Turned me off of Barleywines maybe forever. I suppose if you want to get messed up it’s good (9.8 abv) but otherwise I’ll stay away.

First off, I love barleywines. American b-wines, English b-wines. Doesn’t matter much to me. This was just a so-so barleywine. A fairly oxidized nose with a bit of sugar and toffee and not much else (couldn’t drill past the oxidation). Flavor was definitely sweet, some brown sugar and toffee were the main players and it was a bit alcoholic. Decent beer.

Thanks Badgerben. Dark copper color, big white head. Probably the most drinkable barleywine I’ve ever had, nothing over the top at all. Sweet maltiness along with dark fruits, lightly hopped and the alcohol is there but doesn’t take over like most barleywines. Not being a fan of the style I can say that I could drink one of these every once in a while, very smooth with no bitter aftertaste, just the right amount of sweet and fruitiness.

Bronze/pale brown with a small, off white top. All malt. Rich with a bit of graininess, could have guessed some scottish malt. No detectable hops or alcohol. Medium/full body, smooth. Good taste, but one dimensional.

I know alot of people that mocked this beer and being a weak barley wine. However, the one thing you have to keep in mind is what do you expect for 6 bucks a sixer? SIX BUCKS! No, read that again............six bucks for a six-pack of barley wine. With that in mind, obviously you’re not going to get Hair of the Dog Dave or some other mind numbingly tasty barley wine. But, for what New Glarus accomplished they should be applauded. They could have easily bottled, labeled and marketed this as some limited release and I bet people would have rated it much higher. The fact that they kept the price so low and marketed it as "just another beer in our line" was very modest of them. As for the beer itself, creamy smooth texture that releases into a large caramel and toffee flavor. Light bittering for the style, but enough so the malt didn’t become too cloying. Alcohol present, but well hidden for almost 10%. A bit light in body for this style, but............for SIX BUCKS come on! Very sad to see it go and has not made a reappearance.

Murky copper, thin beige heas. Huge caramel odor up fron, with a substantial pine resin note mixed in. Flavor is caramel up front, and a big sticky piney hop finish. Full bodied and tasty. Thanks JK!