Southern Tier Back Burner

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

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.

Southern Tier Back Burner is a clear, dense, ruby ale with a thick, lumpy, yellow-beige head that has outstanding retention and lacing. It has a strong, sweet aroma that’s grainy, tart and grassy. It’s full bodied and very smooth with a dry, delicate finsh. It’s very sweet. The grassy hops are present. It’s not super bitter, but it’s pretty American tasting. There is a long aftertaste of whiskey and juniper and perhaps peat. 22 oz. is a lot of this. It looks like this is the "FIRST BREWED OF TWO THOUSAND & EIGHT".

Source:22 oz bomber from Chucks.
Glass:Snifter.
Appearance:Dark red pour with a one finger beige head.
Aroma:Caramel and toffee with a hint of citrus.
Flavor:Heavy caramel, with a hint of chocolate and a good bitter finish.
Palate:Full body with mild carbonation.
Overall:Another excellent brew from ST. Wish I lived in NT.

drank this near room temp (65 F) in a Pint Glass. Well balanced. a lot of barley wine’s lean into the double IPA category. This starts too, but it has enough of a sweet malty backbone to stay put.

Clear but dark ruddy copper, with a good sized, lasting off white head. Nose is fairly sweet with caramel notes, and a strong piney, grassy hop profile. Flavor is quite sweet, with a bit of tobacco, plums, raisins. Quite bitter, but nicely balanced. Good, creamy mouthfeel.

Sweet, sugary aroma with a hint of hops and higher alcohol. Dark brownish red body that is clear when held to light. Large, creamy, off-white head. Initial mouthfeel is very high alcohol. This is clearly a barleywine, which is refreshing considering the dumbed down versions I seem to have been stumbling across lately. Very rich, malty brew, but very nicely balanced with a considerable hop presence that is less hoppy and more a weave of bitterness flowing through the rich malty sweetness. Wonderfully balanced and beautifully crafted. This is an outstanding brew, which keeps my streak of outstanding Southern Tier brews at 9 for 9. Underrated.

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?!

This is like an old school beautiful barleywine in a new-lookin’ bottle with a goofy label. Totally not hot for the abv and tastes like most other barleywines do after a year or more in the beer cellar. Fantastic.