Southern Tier Back Burner

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

Aroma is very pleasing, malty, with a candy-sugar thing happening. The appearance is attractive, a brown/ruby color with a persistent tan head. The taste is very sweet, malty, with a generous amount of hops. The finish is almost all hoips, nice balance to the sweetness of the beer. The mouthfeel is thick, almost syrupy. Nice, respectable barley wine.

Copper color. Smell of malt, hops, caramel, pepper, dark fruit, alcohol, nuts, pine and some citrus. Taste of hops, malt, caramel, sugar, oak, nuts, citrus, pine, pepper, toffee and alcohol.

Bottle shared by mmtmatrix. Poured a deep ruby-brown color with a moderate off-white head that faded to a layer and left some lacing. Aroma of sweet maltiness with some caramel and light hops, including citrus. Sweet malts with some decent plum/grape flavor and moderate caramel lead into a moderate hop bitterness with some oxidization. Smooth, moderate bitterness. A pretty solid barley wine.

Sweet fruity caramel aroma. Dark amber with a small head. Nice flavor of dried fruit, molasses followed by a dry hop bitterness. Well worth a try.

Poured a deep ruby color, nice cream head, very sweet grassy smell...Taste was slightly sweet malty grass up front with bitter finish...I like a sweeter barley wine myself, but this one was pretty decent....

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.

A small white head sits atop a deep red mahogany pour. Bubbles rise slowly, but are few and far between. Aroma is loaded with dark fruit, citrus hop, caramel, and a subtle roasted barley profile. A slight booziness is eclipsed by a fruity sweetness. Flavor is uber sweet, with an odd roast character and massve dark fruit note. Dark sugars abound- caramel and molasses prevail quite suitably. Hop character is less than the aroma might suggest, but still acts as an excellent mediator of flavors. Palate is thick, rich, sticky and smacking with a silky body and sugary finish. Like many Southern Tier offerings, this may borderline on cloying, but not quite... it’s really tastey.

Aroma is hops and sweet caramel and sherry. Taste is sweet red fruit, fizzy caramel, and notes of oxidation. Did I mention this was sweet? Very solid beer. Didn’t think it was too boozy, or too much of anything bad. Just well balanced, nice fruity, sweet caramel, and hoppy profile.