Pyramid 5,000 Year Ale

Formerly brewed at Pyramid Breweries
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Bottle pours a dark dark amber, almost light brown, minor off-white head, with spotty lacing.   This one seems to have held up fairly well.   Citrus nose, sweet, light malts and light alcohol.   Much the same on the tongue.   Clean tasting, but fairly light.   Finishes sweet, with a fairly strong orange peel.   Surprisingly good after 5 years.   Thanks goes out to mattbob for sharing this gem.   Probably one of the better Pyramid brews I have had.   Why dont they brew more of this?!?!?

A well crafted and well balanced barley wine. A big fruity nose that warms you inside.

This beer didn't impress me all that much. The medium thick head sits atop a slighlty cloudy amber brown body and a good amount of lacing is left on the glass. Teh aroma is sweet, malty and full of caramel/toffee notes with a slightly old mustiness. The flavor is sweet yet sour with a wierd bitterness. Medium to full bodied and warming.

I liked this beer. It's a bit malty, with some smokey notes with a bitterness at the end. Thx to herbjones for this one

I think I kept this one a little to long. Weird sour thing going on. The nose was very nice with a huge malty profile. Flavor was good with burnt caramel and brown sugar but the finish had that sourness that just detracted from it.

creamy...semi-veggy aromas and..wait..lets see..meaty? with brown sugar notes...and, what? maply syrup aroma too...hmmm. low carbination and a tad sour...little smokey..very malty..and an off-bitterness..but, not too shabby.

Deep crimson. Creamy foam of tiny bubbles. Excellent lacework. Delightfully rich, balanced aroma of prunes and cream, candied black currant, wax, mild dark bread notes, coconut, faint caramel and coffee, and leather; very vinous, estery, and sweet. Mellow, round bottle conditioned carbonation. Very unfamilar initial flavors of sweet dark malts, leather, soggy bread, soured prunes, fig, and concord grape. Acidic twang continues to build long after the finish and further emphasizes the dried plum notes. I commend these guys for having the courage to produce such a unique and flavorful barleywine. Perhaps I left this in the cellar a tad too long. I liked the acidity; but if it were a bit less pronounced this would be divine.

I heard big things about this beer, then had it on tap once, and decided it wasn't too special after all. Definitely very good, but not one of the best.