OHanlons Thomas Hardys Ale (vintage 2003 and later)

Brewed by OHanlons
Style: Barley Wine
Whimple, England

2007 Bottle - thanks oteyj. Light mahoghany pour with a thin beige head. Rich aroma of citrus and fruits, perhaps some grape? Sweet candied sugar and more citrus. The taste is so smooth and balanced, nothing jumps out right away. A huge, thick and creamy body. Faded hops, citrus, light florals, and more candied sugar. Just blended so well. Very nice.

Bottle 2004 vintage. Hazy deep brown pour with small head. Sweet, dark fruit, boozy aroma. Tastes very sweet, dark fruits, malty, heavy, caramel, banana. A quality port like brew. This bottle seemed incredibly sweet too me.

8.5 oz 2004 bottle P40520. Poured an ugly flat lifeless brown body with basically no head. Aroma was pantastic with lots of malty sweetness, raisin, dates, brown sugar, wood, sweet dough, caramel, toffee, prune and plums. Medium palate and a slight twinge of carbonation which is shocking for a beer that had no head whatsoever. Flavor is sweet with lots of liquid toffee, caramel, grape, dates, brown bread dough, Pilsbury biscut dough, dates and slight plastic notes. This was one solid ber but do I have to wait five years plus every time I want to crack one open???

2004 bottle. Big big beer on the nose and in the mouth. Still firery. Poured with no head in a dark ruby red colour. Lots of blackcurrant, fig and port flavours. Alcohol is still quite dominate. Nice sipping, stopping to appreciate the full aroma. A bit harsh, maybe a year or two more would be perfect.

2008 vintage - I wanted to try a fresh version of this and I think it was way to early. The pour was a dark ruby with next to no head. There are so many aromas its actually hard to pick them all out, the main ones I got were, cherry, soy sauce, earth and there is a sherry/port aroma that I think comes from the alcohol. This is where I think I opened it to early the alcohol was very dominant and masked a lot of the flavours. There is a big warm alcohol kick up front then a medium to sweet malt flavour followed by a dry bitter finish. Nice full body, oily with a soft carbonation (despite what looked flat after the pour). Will have to hunt down an older bottle to see how it compares.

Brownish color, no foam. The beer is very balanced, I hardly noticed the high alcohol content. (11,7%) Smells malty, caramel, fruit and a bit burnt. The flavor is very sweet, toffee and chocolate. Port wine sense. Bitterness is nice. The body feels great, got a bit "oily" feeling in the mouth when I drank the beer.

Hazy Cherry brown colour. Great lacing. Aroma is very bready, yeast, and a bit alcoholic. Great flavour, dark fruits, very thick and flabourfull, lots of malts, english yeast. Great beer very complex, I could name flavours in this beer for a week, so i’m going to finish by saying awsome.!

2007 Bottle from Midtown. Pours a deep reddish amber with almost no head. Aroma indicates that this is strong, with aroma of alcohol, cognac, caramel, and maple syrup. Full bodied with very little carbonation. Flavor of caramel, raisen, yeast, and apple. Spicy and warming finish. Cold, this is a bit cidery. Once it gets to about 50 degrees, it makes interesting changes on the palate as it warms. I bought another to age. Overall, not bad but not as good as I was expecting. Perhaps this beer really shines with more years on it.