Shoreline Discombobulation Celebration Ale

Brewed by Shoreline Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Michigan City, Indiana USA

Draft sample at Back Road Fest. Poured dark brown with an average fizzy brown head that diminished sowly with fair lacing. Heavy chocolate, coffee and bourbon aroma. Medium to full body with a sticky texture. Heavy complex sweet bourbon flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Good complex drinkable beer.

Draft at Mad Anthony Oktoberfest. If I were giving out an award for best all around brew at this event, without a doubt the award would go to this brewer for brewing a mighty fine barley wine. That’s really saying something since this is not one of my favorite beer styles. The server told me the ABV is 13%. Very small tan head that quickly dissipated, no lacing, no carbonation, opaque, and a dark brown hue. Nose was sweet, vinuous, toffee, caramel, some chocolate, some maltiness, and hops. Flavor was vinuous, sweet, malty, some fruitiness, and just darn right delicious. Smooth mouthfeel. Nice. Very nice.

Sample taste at <a href=http://www.chibeer.org>Chicago Beer Society meeting & Randy Mosher birthday party, Dec. 1. Another barleywine? Why, sure! I’m thinking this is still a very young BW, of course. It’s pretty yeasty, too, so it needs at least a few more months to settle down. But at this stage, it can still offer up a whallop of malt flavor, with strong caramel, toffee, and lighter bourbon notes. Not much hops to speak of just a strong bitter presence to balance out the malt bill. I will definitely want to check out the brewpub itself and revisit this stuff at a later date.

Served on tap in a snifter style glass. Deep mahogany with a light tan soap bubble head. The alcohol caught me first, followed up with chocolate and toffee, and sofe piney hops. Tons of malt flavor, includine a interesting dark cherry-ness. Just bitter enough to cut the malt, and not be in the way of the malt. Quite full bodied, and low carbonation. Very nice.

Tap and enjoyed with tjthresh and friends: Ruby brown with purple highlights featuring a small ring of froth yet produced good lace. The aroma has notes of plum, raisin, caramel, chocolate, crystal malt, grassy and peppery hops, a touch of earthy yeast and even a bit woody. The taste starts fruity with some sweet malt up front followed by a nice bitter kick and some pepper. Hint of clove and salt as well. The mouthfeel is oily and lightly sticky, moderately warming but not over-the-top. A nice brew with some aging potential, like to see how it develops.