Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale

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

22 oz. bomber served in my Smuttynose snifter. Pours a gorgeous deep ruby coppery color with a small off white head. This is one beautiful looking brew. Nose is piney & floral with a slight medicinal background. Palate is thick and chewy with mild carbonation. Taste is at first sip, piney & floral, but later flavors remind you of dark alcohol laced candies. Brew becomes a little bitter as you get into it. Pretty similiar to the Smuttynose Wheat Wine.

22oz Bottle. Beautiful amber color with small head that leaves nice lacing. Smell is floral hops, light pepper and caramel malt. Decent hop smell but this has a year on it. Hop bite is still there. Nice piney hops, caramel and orange peel. Decent mouth feel with light carbonation. Not bad but nothing special.

Pours hazy amber into a snifter. Off-white head recedes to pancake surface leaving spotted sheet lacing. Strong caramel, detergent and resin aromas. Upfront sweet syrupy caramel. Thick with a lasting resin and ivory liquid finish.

The appearance was the highlight for me. Deep copper color looked beautiful. As a colleague at the tasting commented - "It smells Fantastik - as in the cleaning solvent." Not good. Not a huge fan of the style, but even considering that, I felt like this one fell flat a bit.

Bottle Conditioned in 2006

3/14/2008: Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale pours a hazy copper-amber color with a thin beige head. The aroma is layered with thick, sweet toffee maltiness and a pronounced, aged citrus hoppiness (candied). The flavor is much like the aroma - chewy toffee and caramelized maltiness with just a hint of something roasty in the back, aged fruit (apricots), and then a hefty sweet citrus hoppiness with a moild to moderate level of bitterness. There are also traces of vanilla in the flavor and a dry oakiness in the finish. The bitterness creeps out more and more with each sip and as the beer warms. This beer is extremely balanced and the alcohol is really controlled nicely in the flavor. This beer is full-bodied and feels thick and creamy on the palate. I think a couple years of age has really helped to make this a really good barleywine.

22 fl. oz. bottle (1311) from jimbowood. Thanks Jimbo! Rating #279 for this beer...

Very similar to the wheat wine actually. Cherry and strawberry open up right on the tip of the tongue and move across it. Into the back of the mouth comes the bitterness, but it is soft and balanced nicely with the malt. Hops stand tall, but not overwhelming. The malt is not a dark dried fruit flavor as in an english style, but lighter, brighter fruits connecting with the hops. Alcohol is subdued, but there’s a bit of a cardboardy flavor here. I’m not sure what that is but I feel like I’ve found it in other barleywines. It could be oxidation, but this bottle is pretty fresh. Very good beer, but not exceptional in any way.

3-2-08 bottle shared at tasting.
Amber typical barley wine appearance - very average. Smells like strong apple perfume that is sold in the grocery store and is overpowering and gives you a headache. Flavor is decent but has a strong rubbing alcohol presence that I can’t shake. Palate is average - nothing special, nothing awful.

Pours a dark amber color. Sudsy whitish head that doesn’t last too long. Smell is fruity and vegetal to me. Not particularly appealing but not bad. Taste is caramel with hops in balance but with a definite alcohol presence noticeable. Slightly thin, and flavor was too alcohol driven for it to be very enjoyable.