Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Slightly translucent amber-rose in color with a little splotch in the center as the head. Aroma is strawberries and honey with a sweet hop bouquet. Some traces of phenols and alcohol, although aroma is fairly reserved. Flavor? We’ve got hops here, and lots of ’em. Pineapple orange and some lemon zest. Caramel syrup, likely the byproduct of the malt make-up. Body is solid and nearly syrupy, but in a dense, sustentative kind of way. Casts a sticky web on the palate. Balance is hops heavy, maybe because it’s young, but this is the way I like my barleywine. Finish is honeycomb and rose tea. Some hop bitterness lingers in the aftertaste and is a little numbing. The closer to 60 degrees, the better. This is some good shit. Thanks again for the Smutty connection, tpkenned! I love these New Hampshire bastards.

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. Malty and fruity up front with some caramel and alcohol. There’s something in the aroma that lingers lightly in the background that I’m not a fan of. A little apple and some light hops. Pours a hazy deep red with an off-white head and lots of sediment. Malty up front with some caramel and light citrus. Rather hoppy finish. I like hoppy barley wines but I like the combination with the banana bread flavor and this is missing the banana bread. Still pretty good though.

Pours a hazy golden brown with a frothy thick tan head. Lots of lace. Smells of big floral hops. Strong malt aromas with hints of alcohol. Underlying fruity and citrus aromas and lemon. Taste is dominated by the big malty flavors. Big caramel and hints of nut. Alcohol flavors very apparent as well. But the hops stand up to this big body with a strong hoppy/citrusy finish. Big bodied with a bitter hoppy aftertaste that stays with you. A bit sticky. Pretty drinkable for a young barleywine although not as drinkable as, say, SN Bigfoot. You can tell that this one will age beautifully. Let this one alone for a few months and I’ll bet it will be even better.

Disappointing, sadly. Big and rough. Malt without complexity, hops without nuance, and big alcohol flavors. No fruitiness detected. What a bummer.

Pours a dark amber/crimson red with a small white head. Spotty lacy around the brim, Aroma of dark fruit and caramel malt. Flavor of dark fruits and more malt, not much hop presence. A nice brew, thanks to WillBlake for this one!

rusty amber brown and murky color. big rocky tan head. aroma is dry vermouth, strong hops. resin aroma too. flavor is syrupy malt and very hoppy. I didn’t get the fruits. very bitter in the middle with strong carbonation. salty bourbon finish.

03’ bottle Pours a deep copper/amber color with a foamy, off-white nose. Lots of hops in the aroma. Somewhat on the bland side for a barleywine. No where near the hop that were present in the nose. Some Some syrupy malts with brown sugar flavors with a little alcohol in the finish. I’m surprised that there’s not more alcohol flavor. I mean, where’s it hiding?

The label on this 22 oz. bomber (bottle conditioned in 2005) obtained in a trade via BA warriorsoul promises a big beer in a big bottle. The bottle is certainly big, let’s see about the beer. The body was clear dark reddish orange with a nicely proportioned two finger foamy head sitting atop it. The viscosity looked a little thinner than a typical barleywine. The aroma was malty and grassy, and bit closer to a dopplebock than a hopped up American barleywine. Although a lot of English varieties do exhibit this fruity mature smell. Some alcohol was also showing up in the nose. The taste was balanced mid way between bitter and sweet, with neither taste overpowering. The fruity malts were backed by molasses and brown sugar, and the sweetness reminded me somewhat of a Belgian Quadruppel. The herbal hop bitterness however was much more cranked up than that style, or an English barleywine. As good as the taste was, I could somehow not shake the feeling that the body was a bit too thin, and the beer too well attenuated. Not a hollow empty thinness, but more of an unreached potential in my opinion. The aftertaste was a lingering peppery alcohol burn, which in the end could not hide under the depleted body and mostly earthy hops.