Ølfabrikken Barleywine

Formerly brewed at Bryggeriet Ølfabrikken (Gourmetbryggeriet)
Style: Barley Wine
Roskilde, Denmark

Bottle shared with ogivlado who got in a trade with faroeviking (huge thanks!)
Oizred a brown-red opaque body with an off white medium to small head. Vinuous malty nose, some alcohol, raisins, dust, nice overall. Sweet taste, orange skin, bitter, dusty, alcohol, some aromatic herbal hop. Despite not exactly being my style, this is quite nice and I’m glad I’ve tried it.

bottle,thanks to bu11zeye, dark amber pour with light head, great hop, peppery , woody, nose, flavor is dark fruit, smokey with aged dry wood, very nice

Bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Best before 02/10/2012. Batch 62. Pours with a small, vanishing, off-white head and a hazy brown body. Aroma of currants, some hops, spices, vanilla and driftwood. Taste is berries, caramel, and lightly charred wood. Syrupy mouthfeel, light carbonation.

bottle from bu11zeye. deep amber pour with a tiny bit of froth. hops, sweet malts, alcohol, pepper and wood on the nose. very smooth on the palate with a great flavor of fruits, sugar and vanilla.

Bottled. A murky red-brown beer with a huge orange-tan head. The aroma is sweet with notes of citrus, dusty hops, prunes, and fruit. The flavor is very sweet with strong notes of over ripe fruits shortly followed by the alcohol that gives the beer body, and tickles the tongue. The flavor also contains notes of prunes, wood, and caramel. The finish is dry and alcoholic.

Bottle@Home, BBD 2012. Intens fruity aroma, floral and malty as well. Orange/brown color, beige head, good lace. Very sweet, malty, fruity, floral, light bitter, orange. Full, nice balance, flavorful.

(bottle, thanks Marsiblursi!) Pours reddish brown with just a scant off-white head. Aroma is very sweet with scents of brown sugar, prunes, strawberry jam, and some light oxidation. The taste is simple, but difficult to describe. There’s plenty of caramel and brown sugar, but there’s a slight tangy taste mid-palate (which might be the pineapple OSLO detected). The flavor is well integrated and is very pleasant to taste. These sweet flavors yield to a lightly bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium. This is one of the better barleywines I’ve had.

Poured from a 25 cl bottle, best before 02-10-12, thanks to Andy and Alister. A red rocky glow. Toffee, some greenness, candy corn, and light alcohol in the nose. Acetone lightly. Papery and somewhat flat, but with density. Vinous touch of strawberry and a dust of cotton candy. Substantial and well composed, if a bit uninspiring; the combinations of bitterness and sweetness seem somewhat typical, and it doesn’t get too deep into malt character.

But the flavor brings it strong. Gorgeously textured malt balanced with the most delicate feathery touch of herbal bitterness and a swath of caramel dipped cobbler fruits. It’s dessert-like and warm, but not overly sweet, and the balance is superb; the ample bitterness of pine wood and herbs expanding itself in a powdery blanket over the rich earth of toffee, wildflower honey, and brown sugar. It might be a touch less English than I would like, but the defining malt character is really appropriately standout.

Full palate is velvety but plucky with carbonation. Finishes with a rich and resigned maple-honey sweetness that’s quite lasting, but forgiving. Everything is in its right place, mostly, in this very sophisticated example; and it certainly seems ripe for improvement over the next two to three years.