RCH Santa Fe

Brewed by RCH
Style: Barley Wine
Weston-super-Mare, England

Pint in a milk carton from the 3 judges from ronnie. Aroma is A malty beast, quite swet, honey, cornish notes, no hop character at all, but quite mellow for a barley wine. Taste is similar and relitivly balanced though thers no sign of hops, but a bit thin for a barley wine, making for dangerous drinking. Id no doubt do pints of this in a session though.

The Crown, Nuneaton. Heady wafts of caramelised pear and strawberry-ish fruit. Touches of peppery clove-like spice and orange rind bitterness. So-so fruity red sipper in need of bigger complexity at the strength.

Bright orange, soapy off-white head. Really delicate marmalade and rose aroma, dried apricots. Chewy, rather sweet fruit. Just a little malt warmth, but not quite enough to balance the sweetness. Still, the finish is clean enough to keep it from feeling sticky.

Bright bottled at Dover Beer Fest 2007. Mmmm - sometimes bright bottling a fresh cask beer does something very positive to it. A little extra conditioning in an enclosed space. Whatever. The aroma on this is divine. Very fruity. Cherry and pomegranate with a whiff of coconut in passing. Strawberry flavoured sweets. Taste is fairly relaxed - not the mouthfeel you’d expect of a barley wine. Some chocolate bitterness wraps around the sweetness - though the beer tastes fairly well attenuated so there is not a lot of residual sweetness or body. An unusual barley wine. The hops linger quite pleasantly. There’s some yeastiness about this, and a good rub of tobacco. I feel this is more inclined toward a strong ale rather than the character of a barley wine. Good pleasant fruit. Attractive dryness. Enjoyable hop bitterness and character. Lingering resin burn Nice.

Cask gravity at White Cliffs BF 2007. Pale chestnut colour with thin beige head. Malty aroma, fine. Some good hop on end. Very good barley wine, bit of ginger spice. Sweet. Nice barley wine but could do better. Some tangerine in there as well.

Cask conditioned - handpump - Out Of The Vaults Leicester. A mid to dark brown coloured beer with a creamy fruity alcohol aroma. The beer is full bodied with a vinuous fruity taste. There is buttery smooth warming malty alcohol a plenty in this enjoyable strong ale.

Hand pulled at Out of the Vaults, Leicester. Rosy colouring, thick lacing. Veg/suger cane flavour. Quite sweet and smooth, with a finish that reveals some varnish strength. Nice, but not amazing. Little aroma, needs more flavours generally.

Cask Conditioned, at the Head of Steam, London.
Tawny orange colour, with fluffy large bubbles. Not the strongest barley wine I’ve ever had. Simple beer with cloying malts and not much else. Mid week bender with chris_o.