 ChainGangGuy (1444), Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
May 11, 2008
2007 vintage.
Appearance: Pours a clear,
amber, near-still body.
Keepin’ it simple!
Smell: Caramel maltiness backed by triple sec, a few tired raisins, and fresh-cut lumber.
Taste: Grainy, dry caramel
malt taste with a fairly
restrained sweetness. Light hint of dark fruit. A sip of orange liqueur followed by a few drops of grain alcohol. Medium-high, earthy bitterness. Touch of wood. Warm, bitterish finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full body.
Rather mild carbonation.
Drinkability: While not bad barleywine, it doesn’t quite display the grace or complexity I look for in the swanky barleywine style.
kramer17801 (1843), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 17, 2008 12 oz bottle, via lb4lb. Pours a slightly hazy orangish body with a nice tight bubbled beige head that retained as a thin film. Sweet and fruity nose with a bit of a citrusy hop accent, there’s a nice tangerine rind scent drifting about. A slight alcohol component as well. Pretty bitter up front battling it out with the sweet fruity malt, making it pretty well balanced. Lots of citrusy fruitiness on the slightly alcoholic finish. Pretty full bodied feel to it, the carbonation is a little prickly and fizzy. Slightly warming as it goes down the throat. A nice juicy Barley Wine. I’d like to see what this does with a bit of age on it.
Goodgrief (993), Middletown, Delaware, USA
Jul 5, 2008 Pour was a deep reddish brown...or should I say brownish read...good head and some lacing. The aroma was sweet malt. The flavor was really sweet...sickly so, even though there was some bitterness to attempt to balance it. The bitterness didn’t seem to come from any hops, but rather some overdone kind of spice. The mouthfeel was extremely sticky...kind of like I was lowered into a vat of maple syrup. Caramel, fruit, vanilla and goofy odd spice...but not going well together. I like the rating below that said "overattenuated honey and urine"...that isn’t far off! I had trouble finishing this one.
aplusbreaks (24), , Colorado, USA
Jul 4, 2008 Bottle thanks to mar. 2007 vintage. Pours a hazy orange/amber, with absolutely no head. Aromas of Sweet malts and alcohol. Its actually got a nice bit of hops, making it a little dryer and balanced than a lot of barley wines. It finishes a little hot from the ABV but thats no surprise. Good stuff here, my favorite of the four Real Ales tried tonight.
GAManiac (200), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Jul 2, 2008 Bottle. Pours a deep hazy amber with a thin dense head that dissipated to a ring quickly leaving a fair bit of delicate lacing. The aroma is dominated by a massive candied sugar scent that had a hint of hops in the background, but not much. The flavor is also dominated by the candy sugar with hints of caramel malts. There is also a little bit of hop bitterness in the finish though a medicinal taste lingers in there as well. The mouthfeel is light to medium for the style but still nice and creamy. This is a decent example of a barleywine though the sweetness is certainly higher than most.
PhillyBeer2112 (1814), Orange Park, Florida, USA
Jun 28, 2008 From peter. Awesome aroma, big heavy fruity caramelized malts, with a dark bready fruitiness ala fig newtons, plus a graham cracker pie crust. Ruddy amber color, no head, very light carbonation. Flavor not as complex as the nose, dominated by a sweet bready/cookieish malt, and a slight alcoholic bite in the finish - which would be hard to mask at 11.5%! Full rounded palate. Nice but I probably should have cellared it another 2-3 years.
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