Southern Tier Back Burner

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Lakewood, New York USA

Bottle thanks to Tweety. Was in the mood for a barley wine, and this hit the spot tonight. Year-old bomber. Copper pour and generous beige head when poured into a tulip ... decent lacing, too. Great mix of hops and malt. Nice caramel and toffee notes and fruity bitter hops. Long finish. Tasty.

22 ounce bottle from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. Pours a deep red color with a medium offwhite head. Good head retention and lacing. Aroma is big resiny hops, citrus, grain and toffee. Taste is toffee, citrus hops and caramel. Full bodied.

Very pretty mahogany red color with a surprisingly long lasting thin white head. Aroma is a big shot of bitter, pine accented hops and slight caramel. Flavor is another huge shot of hops, again mostly pine. Hops here have a bit of roughness to their bittering quality. The caramel accented malt finish has a faint roasted not that is a touch strange. Definite alcohol heat here. Not bad, could be interesting to lay down and see what happens.

22 oz. bottle from 2008. Pours a murky mahogany with a thin khaki head. Lots of rich caramel and maltiness in the aroma. Some rye, raisins, and grapefruitiness underneath it all. Full-bodied and kinda syrupy. Loads of sweet caramel, toffee, and some rye start things off taste-wise. Finishes with some drying grapefruity citrusy qualities. Just the slightest hint of alcohol warmth at the end. Solid.

Appearance: Pours a nice clear dark amber color. It does have nice heard as well shows off a lot of carbonation. Smell: Hoppy with hints of mint and cocoa. Very much floural smell. Not at all what I would expect from a Barleywine. Taste: Very interesting taste here. Starts off bitter from the hops. As the taste settles you get a sweet after taste. Finishes dry leaving nothing left to taste Overall: When I saw Imperial Barleywine on the bottle, I thought to myself how do you take a beer that is already strong and go over the top on it? Well Southern Tier certainly figured it out. The hops they use blend very well together. The smell leads you to believe you are enjoying an Imperial IPA but the taste lets you know otherwise. I never thought someone would go further with my favorite style of beer. I am glad Southern Tier did.

Candied fruit-citrus aroma apparent on pouring this rich brown beer with a short-lived of white head. Sweet roasted caramel predominates over an alcohol spiciness. Mouth is dense and creamy. Immediate port and oak with caramel and bittering. Quite a punch, but not over the top, a’la DFH Olde School or Avery’s the Beast. Well balanced adn earthy with a nice beery finish, not too sweet - holds the malt flavor. Definitely worth a second bottle!

2007 bomber. Poured healthy medium orange with a swirly dusting of off-white head. The aroma had rich aged caramel with notes of toffee joining.. hoppage appeared to be moderate to high with fruity and floral character showing.. warm and well-done. The flavor had primarily caramel at the core spiked by alcohol warmth.. bitterness was prominent on the edges with a dry, aged feel (herbal and fruity).. finished spicy and quite strong, losing a little balance. Heavier-bodied and syrupy at times on the palate.. sweetness was grainy from the middle to the back.. bitterness rose with and seemed to be amplified by boozy warmth, and this worked very well.. long, memorable, tasty finish.

THOUGHTS: A good beer, but not incredible or anything. Not really the best barley wine. It was missing that special Barley Wine smell and taste. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, dark red with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished, but left good lacing. The lace was thin, but there was lots of it. The aroma was moderate caramel malt, moderate pine hops, cherry, red wine, alcohol and ever so slight Band-aid. The flavor started out very sweet and finished rather bitter with a little sweetness. There was caramel, a little chocolate, brown sugar, a little cherry, a little alcohol, and pine hops at the end. The medium to full body was a little syrupy and sticky on the lips with soft carbonation and a light astringent and light alcoholic finish.