Samuel Smiths Strong Golden

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Barley Wine
Tadcaster, England

Bottle from Utobeer in London. Amber body. Sweet nose. Quite strong in taste with a harsh bite. Reminded me a bit of cognac. Small bottle, nice experience.

<b>In short: </b>A extra-sweet and bland beer. Between bad and boring.
<b>How: </b>Bottle 180ml (you read that right). Vintage, about 2 years old
<b>The look: </b>Clear dark golden body topped by a small but persistent beige head
<b>In long: </b>Nose of bread and sweetness. Taste doesn’t go much further. Bland bready/cake malts, sugary caramel sweetness, barely any fruity notes, brown sugar, no hops. Very little alcohol presence except for an annoying bit at the very end. Surprisingly not tasty and bland for a 10.2% beer. Just unrefined sweetness followed by a quick alcohol bite. Thankfully the bottle was small, very small, even smaller than a Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock. Still this tiny little bottle is enough for someone like me (or 8 Danish raters) to get a good feel of the beer.

<i>Bottled at Monks Café Wallingatan, Stockholm. </i> Clear amber, brief head. Resiny hops up front. Sweet and dense, quite hoppy. Gets drier underway when the intense doughy malt takes over. Salty resiny finish. Warming, but not very complex.

Hazy amber with a veil of foam on top. Flowery ethylic, sweet malt. Full bodied, sweet, warming fruity. Ends quite bitter.

0.18 l bottle. Dark amber color with creamy head. Thick, sweet, tart, berryish, toffeish, raisiny and very dessert wine like aroma with notes of dark sugar and licorice. Sweet, toffeish, nutty and vinous aroma reminiscenting port wine. Vinous, bitter and toffeish finish. Thick chewy palate. Nice dessert, very vinous.

(Bottle, Monk’s Café, Stockholm) Dark amber colour with creamy, beige head. Malty, fruity nose with notes of dried fruit, wild berries and caramel. Slightly vinous. Malty, fruity taste with dried fruit, raisins, caramel, apricots and a rather earthy, spicy bitterness in the finish. Medium to full body with a warming alcohol glow. Fairly sweet, but not as sweet as British barley wines sometimes are. Sweet fruit is nicely balanced by the earthy hops. In short: sweet but spicy barley wine easily savoured in moderate doses.

Bottle 0,18l. Golden colored. A large creamy head when poured from a distance. Sweet malty aroma. Soft mouthfeel. Flavor of grapes and other fruits. Aftertaste of sherry. The alcohol gives you a warming effect.

Voldby Gaardmarked, DK. Bottled, 300808. Amber without head. Aroma of malt and alcohol. Flavor is alcohol and very sweet.