Oggis 1701 Tricentennial Barleywine

Formerly brewed at Left Coast/Oggis Pizza and Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Del Mar, California USA

Deep ruby body with OK head. The aroma is perfect to style -- sweet alcohoppy. The taste is really good too --it’s sweet and hoppy yummyful.

This beer mega-super-kung-fu rocks!! I detected so many things in the aroma... I lost track. However, I was able to find a very malty, cookie essence underneath the absolutely wonderful aroma of HOPS HOPS HOPS. I noted a perfume-like hop nose which blends quite nicely with an undertone of ripe grapefruit. It's a beautiful beer. Dark crimson with basically no head. Who cares what the beer looks like. A beer's head is ancillary, but that's me. The flavor is very complex. It starts off lightly sweet and moderately bitter. The alcohol is extrememely evident. The finish remained lightly sweet and moderately bitter for an average duration. A full, syrupy mouthfeel with basically no carbonation. Lightly astringent. Just a wonderful barley wine. Try it if you can get your hands on it.

Tasted at the 2004 Pizza Port Strong Ale Fest Amber brown color. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is cinnamon, caramel and malts. A medium to full bodied barley wine. Malts are fruity and sweet, touches of cinnamon and a little oak. There is also some nice spiciness going on here as well. Slightly bitter hops. Very smooth. Touch of molasses. An excellent sipping beer. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Thanks to Tom Nickel for sharing this stuff with us. This stuff had some age but still had plenty of legs left. Heavy malt aroma and taste up front with flavors of dried fruits, toffee, caramel and sugary sweetness. Still had a nice hop bite to it along with a nice alcohol punch. I think this stuff was on the downside of what was a great life but still very enjoyable.

(Draft: 2004 Strong Ale Festival, Pizza Port in Carlsbad, CA. Day 1, Beer 5) The nose is freshly hoppy and quite malty, with an odd woody aroma, perhaps some wild, brown mushrooms. The flavor follows suit, very earthy, woody and mushroomy, and also some moderate smoke. These are all the dominant flavors. It’s also moderately hoppy and malty, but it’s the funky flavors that really draw your attention. Maintains excellent balance from start to finish. Medium body, somewhat dense and coating on the palate, but the hops keeps the palate somewhat clean in the finish. Ruddy, light brown color, fairly cloudy in appearance. Very large tan head shrinks to but retains a thin layer, leaving some patchy lace. Deserves a controlled tasting session out of a real glass, and where the barleywine can warm to room temperature. The nuances are probably lost because the beers are too cold (it’s a cold night here in San Diego).

On tap GABF 02: One of the best three beers there. One of maybe 10 beers I tried twice. Sweet dark malt aroma with some dark fruit in there. Brown hazy color, full body. Then you get crushed with hops. Muhahahaha!! It is bitter like mad, but a nice sweetness is there from the malts. This stuff is great and I wish I had a keg of it.

This barley wine pours with a deep amber body topped by a thick head with tons of lacing. The aroma is bitter and hoppy with alcohol esters, a strong pine note, some cinamon, and an underlying foot note. The flavor is slightly sweet yet bitter with piney notes, slight caramel notes and a touch of alcohol. Full bodied, tingly on the tongue and slightly dry.

Definitely a sipping beer. Cloudy brown w/ a yellow head, malty, slightly hoppy, very nice