Pisgah Hellbender Barley Wine

Brewed by Pisgah Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Black Mountain, North Carolina USA

Pours an off-white lacing head with a copper-amber body. Smells of brown sugar and alcohol. Flavor is brown sugar and mellow spice hops. Finish is nice and bitter.

Thanks to JCB for the 750ml bottle. Probably about 8 months old. Clear orange/copper with a large head. Aroma of caramel, brown sugar and toffee; maybe a little floral hops and dark fruit, but the star of this show is all the sugar. Fairly sweet, alcohol is well covered. Medium mouthfeel. I probably should have cracked this sooner to get the full hops effect.

Bottle from kp. Thanks! Enjoyed this the inaugural Liquid Sunshine Tasting at bitbucket’s house. I believe if I remember correctly suzygreenberg was sitting on my right, bvc to the left, bitbucket across the table, after4ever was at the end and there were tons of other cool dudes there too. Bob cooks good burgers too. Beer poured light copper. The aroma was a mix of malt and hops. Somewhat sweet with hops. Light booze in the finish. A good brew. Hold up... I can’t rate this remedial... The aroma was a little lighter, especially when compared to the barleywines we had before. A touch fruit, caramel, light grapefruit and floral hops. Caramel, floral hops, moderate sweetness, the carbonation is rather bright for a BW too.. My only complaint is that it seemed to be a bit subdued for the style. Still nice though.

08 750ml corked and caged via TheBeerSommilier. After staring into my cellar like a zombie, I chose to open this, because I needed a big beer and I wanted a new rating and they came together in the form of hellbender. Drank from one of my reidel snifters. Pours rich orange with a creamy tan head. Nose is sweet and rich and smells pretty damn nice now with some hops in there too. Taste is hoppy, sweet and rich with a prickly mouth feel and a slight back end warming. I gotta say this hits the spot.

22 oz. bottle. Deep reddish amber with a large off white head. Caramel and fruit aromas predominate, with a backdrop of hoppiness. Smooth, medium body and carbonation, a bit sticky. Tends toward sweetness with plenty of malt flavors, but sufficient hop balance to round out the finish. Pretty decent, a solid offering from this Western NC brewer.

Bomber. Pours a deep amber with a very large frothy head- over carbed for a BW. Aroma is sharp dark crystal malts, toasty caramel, lot sof dark fruits, and a good relatively fresh hop presence. Lots of hops in the flavor lead it to become a bit bitter in the end- still lots of deep dark sharp crystal malts, toffee, a bit of molasses, somewhat green and earthy as well. Higher carbonation giv es it a lively mouthfeel and not quite what I would expect in a BW. Pretty good but not outstanding.

25 oz bottle. Pours a dark amber body, clear, with a nice frothy beige head. Nice sticky heavy lacing. The nose is big and heavy toffee malt with a good bit of resiny hops. The flavor is very similar, big caramel and toffee maltiness, some brown sugar, and a little resiny hops on the back end. Pretty well hidden alcohol, lots of nice dark fruits. Mouthfeel is full but soft with nice light fizzy carbonation that cuts the heavy malt well. The more it breathed the better this got. A pretty solid Barley Wine. How these guys do organic stuff so well, I’ll never know.

750 ml bottle provided by beastiefand2k. Pour is ruby orange, slightly hazed, with a one inch off white head. Nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of fusil alcohol, caramel honey sweetness. Some Vanilla notes. Nice nose. Taste is sharp alcohol, bright vanilla, brown sugar, caramel. Taste is not quite as pleasant as the nose, mostly the alcohol jumps out a lot more in the taste. Palate is medium, with sharp residual alcohol. Thanks for sharing this Eugene.