Oggis 1701 Tricentennial Barleywine

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

Oh my. Sometimes, words fail me. Hopefully, this won’t be one of those times. Lovely, deep brown-red color. Nose is absolutely stunning, with ripe cherries, plums, port, and probably a hundred other things that I didn’t want to take the time to notice because I wanted to drink it. Flavor is hugely malty, rich, sweet, and powerful. Vinous, fruity, very port-esque. Smooth, a classic sipping brew. One of the single finest barleywines in the universe, I’d have to say. Lovely.

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.

Very nice barley wine! Very rich brown and gold pour w/ a yellowish hue. Great head, and great lacing. Roasty, hazelnuts, and soury fermented fruit w/ hints of coffee in the mouth, and piney, soury fermented fruit and slight gym socks appeal on the nose. Creamy and yet aggresive w/ a full body.

2001 bottle from Tom himself. Yummy... POurs a dark, deep brown in color with aromas of fruit and brown sugar. Flavors of evergreens and brown sugar again, with a slight chocolate feel. Maybe the best barleywine i've had yet.

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.

An awe-inspiring exemplar of the old ale style. A moderately fruity hops dominate the nose. Pours with a full, light brown head over a ruddy brown body. Perfectly balanced flavors: big, somewhat sweet malty body with a good but not overpowering kick of bitterness. Can feel the alcohol on the palate, but its not bad at all, and is well balanced by a fine, sweet dry aftertaste. Took a well-deserved gold medal for bottle-conditioned ale at the 2002 Real Ale Festival.

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 was had on tap at the San Diego Strong Ale Festival 2004. This beer poured a dark mahogany and reddish mixture color with a thin tanned head and a good degree of lacing. Ahhhhh, the aroma... you can tell right away that this is a barleywine. Sweet malts, caramels and fruits clash with a sea of centennial hops. Sweet candy, caramel, cinnamon and brown sugar aroma with a hint of citrusy hops. The flavor develops into a long-lasting full bodied array of sweetness upfront followed by a bittering hoppy and cocoa, coffee bean clean finish. Slightly dry brown sugar in the finish as well. Very little alcohol presence, but just enough to pick it up in the finish. Sweet, but very well balanced and extremely full bodied...this could be a scary beer if bottled or aged!