North Coast Old Stock Cellar Reserve Brandy Barrel

Bottle. Body-almost still, dark iced tea body. Nose-chocolate, Tootsie Rolls, alcohol, some light wood, caramel, nice, sweet complex beer. Taste-caramel candy, medium alcohol, low bitter, hot, prickly CO2 despite being so still, good high quality bourbon, earthy as it warms, clay, really approaches bourbon as it warms. Quite enjoyable albeit a little hot.

This Barley Wine pours a murky dark reddish brown color from a corked 375 ml bottle. Small sized white foamy head, that disappears very quickly. The aroma is caramel, dark fruit, raisins, hints of oak and sherry. A medium to full bodied Barley Wine. The malts are caramel, dark fruity and sweet. The hops are earthy. Lots of fruit, oak, and brandy/sherry flavors. Nice balance. Very smooth tasting. Mild carbonation. Hides the 14.5% alcohol very well. Some chocolate and toffee flavors emerge as it warms. Nice beer. There are lots of flavors mixing going on around here. I would prefer a little more carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

(Bottle, one million thanks to TheSheeseMan and WeeHeavySD) Pours dark brown with some dark red notes and a fast decreasing sand colored head on top of everything. The aroma is complex, well balanced and fat with malty tones of (burned) caramel, fudge and some chocolate, dark fruits like raisins, prunes and fresh figs are also notable. Oaky, alcohol-ish and vinous with tones of red wine, mature blue grapes, oxidation, brandy, port, butter and light vanilla. Undertones of pumpernickel, apples, nutshells, dark syrup, old sunlit wood facade and brown sugar. The flavour is of syrupy caramel malt and mild oxidation that keeps each other balanced, very vinous with notes of port, red wine and brandy, lots of dark bread tones, dark fruits like raisins and prunes but also some apples, some well-integrated oak with hints of vanilla and butter alongside of some of dark chocolate and sal ammoniac. No taste of alcohol but a great deal of warmth and numbing qualities. The mouthfeel is soft, gentle yet fairly sticky and numbing. Medium to heavily sweet and light bitter. Aftertaste of dark bread, red wine, sticky syrup and dark fruits. Medium to full bodied. The aroma is amazing and the flavour keeps on growing for every zip. This beer sucks… NOT.

Bottle. A brown beer with a beige head. The aroma and taste is oxidiced, of caramel malt, vanilla, wood and fruits, some alcohol. MEdium to full body with a sweet alcoholic finish.

Bottle. 2005 vintage. Rich dark mahogony beer with a tan head. Brandy, caramel, rich malt aroma. Sweet brandy, caramel, rich malt flavor. Nice complexity. Great flavor. Medium body. Hides alcohol more than the bourbon. Lingering brandy, raisin, caramel, and sweet malt. Lighter flavor but more lively than bourbon.