Southern Tier Back Burner

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

Thanks to beerlando. Vanilla, molasses, creamy thick aromas. Pours dark amber. Malty upfront, molasses, smooth, with spicy hops, slightly bitter finish with a slight resin flavor.

Gorgeously dark and deep burnt orangey brown. Firm smallish capping of lightly yellowish foam sits for good length before settling to a soild skim and a big bubbly collar. Tons of thinly placed sheeting which breaks apart into some webby strings and moth holes. Lofty aroma of big caramel malts parched with orangified piney hops and toasted breads. A bit of soft berries, molasses, raisin, and fig grows as it sits. Taste is just as good if not better and carries a very fine complexity to its flavor profile. Big on malts with some soft, soothing caramel mixed with alot of dark fruity acsents of fig, raisin, and berries. Semi tangy and sweet with a soft, silky, smooth body that’s delicately malty rich and thick with just the perfect amount of warmth off the end to round it off as a partial hop tone comes into play. Only a slight bittering bite of orange peel and pine nudges at the palate as it maintains its big malty profile and deep richness settling into the finish. Quite complex with some hints to brown sugar, vanilla, pear, and a whole lot of raisinyness. A bit of toasted grain moves across the finish as it warms with just right kind of Barleywine ABV hint as it finishes. Soft, full, rounded, thick, and rich body, not overly hefty nor hoppy and keeps a nice tone and malty creamyness and chewyness the whole way through. Oh, and the finish is just as soft and alluringly delicate as the rest of its nature with its small amount of warmth floating in over the maltitude of sweetness. Nice... A pretty fuckin’ solid Barleywine by Southern Tier. This will age well for those of you who do that sort of thing. But I found this fairly fresh bottle of Backburner to be dead-on, super nice, and yummalishious!! Brings memories of Old Guardian...when I can get it?!

22 oz bottle. Clearish brown with a fluffy balsa head. Nose is caramel, grass and lemon. Almost syrupy with buttery smoothness and a tang. Taste has the typical ST beer candy take on the style. Butterscotch, orange peel and pine. Finishes slightly bitter and dry raw dough. A tad cloying but still a pleasant, sweet sipper.

Bomber of the ’08. Sweet candied apple and spice swirl with other dried fruits in the aroma. Slightly sweet caramel-y flavor with a solid finish that avoids being too bitter but still has huge hop character.

deep mahogany copper color, some decent head, nose is hoppy, some resin and pine, also alcohol and like molassis caremel, flavor is roasty, resin, kinda chewy molassis again on the finish. Intresting barely wine showed its alcohol at the finish.

Bottle shared with Ian. Pours a reddish brown with a thick tan head. Big beautiful aroma of citrusy hops and malty caramel. Taste is thick and hoppy, very big malt profile, but not over the top. I don’t know how aged the bottle was, but there was a subtlety of the hops and malt that was very nice.

22 oz bomber thanks to a trade with drewbeerme. Pours a clear dark ruby with a thick beige head. Nose is malty and fruity. Lots of red ripe fruit grapes, citrus, a little brown sugar. Sweet flavors to go with the nose all of that red ripe fruit bursting with a hint of licorice but no bitterness to balance out that sweetness. Pretty tasty none the less.

Bottled. Courtesy of Bov. Liquorice allsorts, mint and quinces in the nose. Complex. Full bodied. Very nice. Thanks a lot Bov!