Southern Tier Back Burner

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

Bottle from Capone’s. Clear ruby copper pour with 2-finger khaki head. Aroma of caramel malt, brown sugar, figgy fruit, slight nut and port notes. Medium to dense palate heft, with flavor notes of caramel malt, brown sugar, and mid-palate figs, plums, port, slight cognac, and slight oaky earthy notes. I consider this one a very good barleywine.

22 ounce bottle from Beers of the World in Rochester, NY (June 2007) sampled at cellar temperature or slightly below from a Maudite glass. Very deep, clear rust-tinged bronze, smallish quick-fading head leaving a touch of lacing....pretty typical rough, resinous PNW hoppy aroma, more bark-y and piney than most, citrus characteristics are muted, overall not terribly interesting and surprisingly rather weak....thick, syrupy, very sweet body is at first a nice sipper, with a modicum of vanilla in there with the wood-tinged caramels, but as it dries out towards the finish it becomes astringent, alcoholic, and medicinal, and the thickness in the body combined with very low combination makes for a seriously cloying, hard to drink beverage. Sadly I have lost just about all faith in this brewery.

Deep copper body with a nice thick khaki head. Grapefruit with some nice toasted walnuts aroma in the aroma. There is also some nice hot chocolate. Rich notes of toast and light oranges are the main flavors here. There is also some thick, rich jam type character, but close to rasins. This is a massive beer and very thick in the mouthfeel, but scary drinkable. The finish has some notes of toasted bread crust. A nicely made brew that is more on the malty side than I expected.

Bottle. Rich malt aroma with resin. Dark amber color with a white smear for head. Medium plus body with creamy carbonation. Flavor is sugar, roasted malt, and some hop bitter - not able to detect type though. Finish is sweet, but not overly so. There’s enough bitter to say almost balanced. Very smooth, very tasty.

2007 vintage bottle and enjoyed in my Great Lakes snifter, mucho thanks Todd!

The beer has a lovely mahogany hue topped by a lasting creamy beige head and left outstanding lace upon the glassware. The aroma has notes of resiny and herbal hops, pepper and clove, hint of grapefruit rine, brown sugar, earthy and leathery yeast esters. NICE

The taste profile starts with a healthy dash of hop bitterness and peppery spice before the midsection displays a syrupy malt and sugar sweetness with an additional undertone of fruit and mineral nuances. The finish is still rough around the edges with a tad too much alcohol bite (more noticed as it warms) but it show plenty of depth to make me believe it will be a keeper for a long time and yet still can be enjoyable in it’s young brash state. The mouth feel is sticky and heavy-bodied with some bite and aggressiveness.

I want more for it is quite yummy. This is worth two bottles, one for now and one for the cellar.

Bottle at DLD 09 ... deep copper ... little tofee malt nose ... sweet toffee ... rich malts ...too much vanilla

Bottle. High creamy off-white head leaving long lasting curtains. Dark hazy orange amber body. Hops oranges nut aroma. Mild hops apple pear flavor without the feared high alcohol taste, Low carbonation, I do not quite get it. High alcohol percentage. No special aroma or flavor.

Poured a mostly clear amber color with a ruby tint. Full fruity malt aroma. Moderate amount of hops come through. Citrus and earthy with some alcohol. The flavor was malty with some fruitiness. Mild to moderate bitterness, Lightly sweet finish. The alcohol is pretty well hidden.