Speakeasy Old Godfather Barleywine

Brewed by Speakeasy Ales and Lagers
Style: Barley Wine
San Francisco, California USA

Bottle - 2006. Pours a clear dark amber color with a off-white head on top. Aroma is fairly faint, with caramel malt and hops coming through. Flavor is pretty much as lacking as the aroma. Definitely not as predominately flavorful as any other barley wine I have tasted. A malty sweetness somewhat comparable to cherries is in the flavor along with hints of hops. I wonder how this beer could possibly age with such a low flavor profile. I guess I can always try it out since I still have 3 more of these. Definitely not what I was expecting.

typical, sugary, hoppy. has nicer fruity flavors in it than some i’ve tried.

A clear amber pour with a thin and mostly diminishing off white head, looks thin. Unless I rouse the head up with a little swirl, it’s tough to nose anything other than caramel malts and some east coast barleywine style hop combos. With the rousing up I can sense a rather complex hop aroma with nuances of pineapple, vanilla and macadamia nuts. Also noted is a touch of melon. Big peat notes are the first thing I notice in the flavor, now that is a real surprise as there surely is no peated malt in this. Big vegetal flavors topple the subtle malt profile. Lettuce comes to mind. This tastes more like a new school Scotch ale than a west coast barleywine. Hints of a favorite childhood snack -- Ants On A Log -- celery with peanut butter and raisins on top. This certainly has some strange dimensions. A spicy medium-dry finish brings me back to reality. Palate is too thin for my tastes, in this style.

surprisingly hoppy nose, also a bit of alcohol. filtered, dark copper color and a two finger off-white head. fruity hop flavor, almost minty. I’m still surprised to see how much hops are in this. There’s some alcohol on the finish but for 10.2% it’s pretty well hidden. quite drinkable. There is a weird sweetness that i can only liken to some type of bubble gum. AHHHH, it’s watermellon. weird.

Thanks to elnadeau for sharing. This was a one year old bottle. Very nice dark amber color. the flavor had a candy sweetness to it that I couldn’t quite place.

I think I tried this a few years ago and just found the rating while cleaning out my desk. It’s kind of cool finding old ratings I had laying around. Anyways: nice sunset color. Thin but persistent head. Aroma is extremely concentrated - brown sugar, dark cherries and floral hops abound. Flavor is not as sweet as expected and has a crass, unrefined bitter edge. I got more cherry and some melon throughout. This one really grew on me through the 4-pack.

Nice amber color,small head that faded quickly leaving little to nothing behind.The aroma was malty with a pretty decent citrus,piney hop side.The flavor was not as good as i was hoping but still decent.Nice malt taste that fades quickly to make room for a big hop side and plenty of burn for my buck coming from the hop bitterness and the alcohol.It seems the brew might be a little to young and maybe a bit of age would mellow the flavor a bit.Still it’s worth a try.

12 oz bottle. Pours amber with a half there pale tan head. Aroma is basically a weak BW with not much oomph, slightly sweet, but nothing special. Taste is very sweet, sugary sweet. Tasty but not very complex.