Smuttynose Barleywine Style Ale

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

Rich, vibrant blood orange colour. Rich malty nose (brown sugar, peaches, biscuits, stroop). Thick body showing alcohol (stronger than the 7% indicated), peaches, oranges, and loads of earthy, sticky malt like sponge toffee. Sweet finish.

Hazy copper body topped by medium beige head. Aroma is medium sweet, spruce, biscuit, light caramel. Taste is sweet, strong malty, caramel, fruity (strawberry), grapefruit, some alcohol. Finish has a nice alcohol warming/burn. Full bodied.

Dark copper body, a little hazy, fluffy white head, good lacing. Aroma is hops hops, pine, citrus, and some more hops. Taste is about the same - even though I love hops, this is kind of one dimensional - malts were far far in the background with a little touch of sweetness. Body ended up feeling thin and rough. It was harsh, would aging it help, I dunno.

Nice barley wine although not quite strong enough. Deep red with a decent lasting head. Very malty but balanced by a generous amount of hops.

From 2003, drank on 10/25/05. Another fine offering from these guys, okay, it helps that I was sitting next to the brewer when I drank this, but it is outstanding. Still a little murky, light plum in color. Still has a pleasant hop pop, but hides the 10% well. Citrus, roasted malt and hops all meted together. I would love to taste this in three years.

They should indicate the vintage on the bottle. Here are 2 different experiences of it:

Assertive citrus hop pilgrims settle in an apricot and peach field...Rummy alcohol is distributed a bit too generously and a bitterness epidemic spreads quite fast...Thin caramel tries to save the day but does not succeed well enough...Maybe it needed a few more months...7/3/7/3 14/20

Ripe citrus fruit over earthy biscuits...Candied berries linked with a flavorful and intense orange syrup...Resinous hops complexifies the whole and proves surprisingly cohesive...8/4/8/4 16/20

Date: 10/19/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Cellar Stock

Appearance: clear dark blood red, pours with a huge head that settles down to a whispy tan head,
Aroma: sweet malt aroma with earthy hops, initial hot alcohol aroma,
Body: creamy body,
Flavor: rich sweet carmel malt flavor, earthy hop flavor and bitterness, alcohol shows up after warming,
Overall: a basic barley wine
-------- /> Date: 09/06/2008
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2005
Score: 3.2 to 3.6

developing a nice fruity character,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

Pours deep copper in color, with a good size tan head with quickly receeds to leave small amounts of lace. Aroma is dominated by raw maltiness, but has a good flowery and perfumy hoppiness to back it up. Flavor starts strongly malty (raw grains, some bread), in the middle the hops push through, and ends strongly citric and bitter from the hops, and also has some spiciness thrown in for good measure. Body was full, lightly alcoholic. Seemed a bit "raw" to me, maybe it's too young, but still pretty darn good.