Rock Art Ridge Runner Ale

Brewed by Rock Art Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Morrisville, Vermont USA

dark amber/brown with a small compact off white head. Aroma is chocolate, caramel, touch of hops. Taste is caramel malt, some dark fruit, with a smooth finish.

Bottle. Pours a deeper borwn without any head. Nose is prunes, roasted grain and some coffee. Flavor is that of a thin port, dried fruit and limited carbonation. The coffee notes continue. There is not much sweetness as the viscosity is very thin. The finish is somewhat bitter as well. I thought this needed to be bulked up in sweetness and overall umph. I also thought this could be a cross between a brown ale and an APA, not sure about the barleywine.

A hazy amber beer with a thin lazing beige head. The aroma is sweet malty with quite a lot of hops. The flavor is sweet with a dry malty note combined with a light fruity note and a light oxidation. I’m surprised that it is not better.

Sampled at Arg0’s Pre-RBSG Tasting at his pad: Amber mahogany, light head, some lacing. Nose of light oxidation, vanilla and tortilla chips. The flavor is hoppy, light bitterness and a full bodied sweetness. Creamy and remarkably subtle. Eh, no alcohol taste. Barleywine? Ha.

On tap at Blue Dog in company of the brewer and founder of Rock Art. Pours a dark brown with red highlights. Billed as a mild barley wine since due to Vermont laws they can’t sell beers higher than 8%...or so the owner said. Head was a very creamy off white head that sustained and laced nicely. Aroma of toasted malts, caramel, a little buttery (may have been due to the classic Blue Dog dirty lines) light on the hops, sweet malty and not exaclty what I would expect form a barley wine aroma. Flavor was also kind of a carmel, buttery malt thing going on with a light hop presence.

Looks brown and muddy. Slight hint of a light brown head. Aroma is light roasted malt and bits of English hops. Flavor is smooth and subtle. Solid caramel and toasty malt flavors. A bit weak in the hops, but they are in there. This is really more of a high alcohol version of a bitter. Maybe it could be an English strong ale. It’s far from a barley wine.

Described to me as a "mild barleywine" it looks great in the glass. Dark brown with ruby highlights and a thick sticky tan head. The aroma is lightly toasty with a decidedly muted character. A bit of toasty flavour, some almost macro-ish malt graininess. As it warms there is a bit more interesting slightly earthy hop flavour comes forward. A bit of diacetyl is in here as well, but it’s moderate. Amazingly boring.

Roasted malt flavors as well as light caramel. Thin,watery, and weak in flavor. Not really a barleywine in my humble opinion.