Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale

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

Pours a radiant, reddish brown, with a medium, thin white head. Smells of hops, caramel, sweet malts, and a little bitter fruit. Grapefruit mostly. Taste is quite sharp, some nice rich caramel, slightly bitter, but in a good way. Traces of cinnamon, and some sweeter grapefruit citrus. Faily smooth and balanced pretty well. Good showing.

Burgundy color. Sherry-like oxidation is unfortunately, very profound in the aroma. Nuts and ripe fruits are present in the aroma as well, with hints of peanut brittle, caramel corn and mocha. The mouth experience is quite tame, considering the style. Unfortunate oxidation initially on the palate, while on the mid-palate ripe fruity esters and mocha hints are present, which leads into a caramel, port-like finish.

Very thin head which dissipates quickly but has great carbonation for a barley wine. Nice aroma. Sweet with caramel, tons of malts, a bit of hops and maybe a hint of maple. Color is a muddy dark copper. Flavor is think and a little sweet with a nice alcohol burn. More malts and caramel. Not very complex but pretty smooth. Finish is nice and thick, a little bitter and slightly tart. A decent barley wine but lacks the complexity of some. Wow the further into the bottle I get the less I am impressed with this brew. Having trouble finishing it. Almost has a flavor/aroma or kerosene. Something is just not right here. Rating adjusted down from 3.8 initial.

Thick and rich, very little head formation. Still, amberish red in the glass. Intensely malty aroma, very little alcohol aroma, almost no hoppiness. Quite sweet in the nose. Flavor is very sweet initially, with more alcohol apparent then I would guess for 7%. Hops are really earthy and not at all sharp or prominent, pretty englishy. A very malty barleywine; good but nothing too much to separate it from the crowd.

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.

Bottle. Very, very musty smells like an old book. Quite bitter on the front end, very bitter for a barleywine. Very low key sweetness. Almost numbs the tongue. Fruity, dirty finish.

Another solid entry from the Smutty big beer series. Lustrous pour, a bright amber that practically glows. Fairly mild carbo/head, but a nice nutty aroma. It’s definitely an aggressive American bw, with some hop assertion at the fore and some nut/malt flavors balancing it out as it warms. Good stuff.

2006 Vintage from my secret santa 2008. Pours a pretty muddy and basiclly ugly brown with just a bit of khaki head. Nice toffee and fruity nose. Plenty of hoppy goodness and chewy malt. Same with the flavor. Lots of chewy malt and grapefruit hop flavor and an aggressive bitter edge. Medium body with just a bit of carbonation. Balanced finish. Decent, but not quite what I was looking for.