Shoreline Discombobulation Celebration Ale

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

Very nice nose, full of candies, chocolate covered cherries, sweet maraschino cherry hops. Rich, silky, thick. Pungent and sticky cherry tobacco, sticky raisens and cedar wood. Lightly bitter, very lively on the tongue. Color is a dark ruby red.

Nice pour, a clear chestnut body with golden highlighting and an appropriate, creamy eggshell head. The aroma was sweet without being cloying, dusty caramel with appless, a hint of sweet cherries, and an earthy hop bitterness. All blended nicely into the flavor, the alcohol making itself known midway through. The finish is a blending of the bitter and the sweet, accompanied by a low alcohol burn. Nice.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Brewery, Michigan City, IN<font size=-1>

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.

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.

This draft brew from a festival poured a small sized head of finely sized light brown colored bubbles that were fully diminished and left behind a semi-hazy no visible carbonation dark brown colored body and a poor lacing. The mild aroma was malty and bourbon. The mouth feel was very tingly at the start and at the finish. The flavor contained notes of malt hops sweet and bourbon. Delicious and one I would certainly buy again.

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.

draft at Mad Anthony Oktoberfest - Pours dark brown with a thin head. The bourbon barrel aging shines through in the aroma that also features caramel malts and some dark fruit, perhaps plum. It tastes malty with a good hops balance and just the right amount of bourbon flavor to be noticeable without overwhelming the beer. The alcohol is just noticeable, definitely well concealed for being 10%. I agree with Hotstuff that this beer was the star of the show at the MA Oktoberfest. I am wondering if it’s always bourbon barrel aged though or if this was a special batch. They had it labeled "Discombourbonlation".

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.