Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale

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

22oz. bomber: This beer poured an amber color, that was a touch hazy. it has absolutely no head to it at all, and almost no carbonation. The aroma is nice. Some sweeter fruits in there, as well as a hint of hops burried in the background. The taste has some bitterness to it up front, followed by some malt sweetness. Somewhat spicy with fruits also. Not bad.

2006 Pours copper with a light tan head. The aroma has rich caramel and toffee, very heavily toasted malt with lots of the typical barleywine mustiness and alcohol presence. Thich body that is rich and smooth with minimal sharp carbonation. Flavor starts with thick sweet malt with some earthy woody hops - thick and tasty. There is some sugary aspects here as well. The finish has more of a hop presence, bit of an abv burn and lingering thick malt and woody hops. Very nice and enjoyable.

the sun-drenched chestnut orange of an okapi, wedded with the redder hues of dried salmon. it has bottle-bottom nebulousity and chunks of particulate matter big enough to choke a large penguin. the head is generally weak and just maintains a single tier of bubbles in a desparate ring hugging the glass in a wispy spiral-- like the scaled-down rings of saturn. thinner than a textbook on intelligent design theory! aroma parrots the alto voices of vodka and plum, sopranos of brown sugar and baked pineapple, and virtually throbs with verile basses droning thier burgeoning caramel malts. confrontational carbonation, it's sweet with orange and almond flavors, it's medium bodied, and its hops haromonize in songs of moderate tea and citrus. notes of red fruits, butterscotch malts and bourbon. with a milky texture and bourbon-like woody burgandy flavor , it's somewhat more muscular than the 7% abv would suggest. the calming buzz neatly dovetailed with my generally pleasant thursday night status quo.

Pours a clear copper orange with a nice off-white head. Aroma is bold and hoppy, with plenty of sweet caramel malt to back it up. Starts with a nice sweetness, then some hoppy bitterness before a clean smooth finish that hides the alcohol very well. Has nice complexity. Reminds me a lot of Bigfoot, but not quite as balanced.

22oz. Bottle (2007): Medium sweet aroma. Smells of malts, caramel, hops, pine, resin, and some citrus. Poured copper/amber in color with a small beige head that diminished slowly. Cloudy. Full of medium-sized particles. Good lacing. Lightly sweet, lightly bitter flavor. Tastes of malts, caramel, hops, pine, resin, alcohol, and brown sugar. Medium to full body. Thick, syrupy texture. Average carbonation. Resiny hop finish. A nice hoppy barley wine.

bottle-2006. Man, this one suprised me. I was expecting something pretty bad gauged buy "friends" ratings of this beer. lightly hazy bright amber with a small smooth small bubble head. carmel, earthy hops, light must, and alchohol on the nose. Pretty interesting nose, even if its pretty simple for a barleywine. big carmel fruity malts on the start of the flavors, which are dried out by a wonderful earthy and lightly resinous/dirty hop note on the finish. must use chinook or EKG on this one. definatley have a resionous hop presence. body is lush with very fine carbonation and slick mothfeal. I dig this one! Would make a GREAT aging barleywine and has characteristics of SN bigfoot in the hop profile.

Poured a copper color with a small off white head. Sweet malty aroma with caramel, toffee, and piney hops. Flavor of sweet malt more caramel and hop finish. Medium bodied.

Slightly hazy, amber/bronze, with good moderate lacing. Notes produced by rich malt/hop combinations, with grapefruit and a smoke-tinged bottom. There is a good zing on the palate that the bitterness generates. Not bad at all.