Sprecher Barley Wine Ale

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

From a 1 lt. cobalt blue swing top bottle with a blurb on the back and a 2005 bottling date on the neck tag, sampled at a cooler cellar temperature in a tulip glass. Poured a dark orangey amber with a fluffy, creamy off-white head that settled into a creamy lacing, minimal amount of sticking. Aromas of a nutty peat-like smokiness, a sherry-like fruitiness, sugary, a soft caramel and toffee maltiness, and whiffs of sweet spicy alcohol. Good moderate carbonation and a crisp, creamy smooth medium bodied mouthfeel. Different, but pleasant barley wine taste, the odd thing is peat smokiness instead of a vanilla woodiness, sherry, cherry fruitiness, caramelized white sugary, a soft sweet caramel toffee maltiness, a light spicy hoppiness with a soft lingering bitterness that mingles with the alcohol, the alcohol is warming in the palate, and a dryish fruity, peaty, malty finish. A bit odd, has the familiar Sprecher maltiness, but not bad, worth giving a try if you like barley wines.

This wasn’t as bad as I expected after reading some of the reviews. A bit murky amber with a fine head. Fruity like a Belgian, with some diacetyl that works even if unintended. Quite exothermic, but not was much as I would have expected at 9.71 (I don’t believe it). A bit like a hyperactive Duvel, but lacking the pear flavors...more like apricots and raisins.

Oily, salty aroma has some notes of caramel and toffee as well as madeira like sweetness (oxidation?). Clear amber coloured body is topped by a low white head that recedes to partial cover and ring. Very sweet, on the verge of cloying, with nutty malts, some alcohol and plenty of madeira and sherry. Medium body with somewhat watery texture and moderate carbonation. Going away party.

Bottle: Brown with a white head. Aroma, caramel, alcohol, and some worsteschire sauce, brown sugar. Flavor, soy, brown sugar, and alcohol. Just weird.

Glowing brown color. Didn’t get much of a head on this one. Nose is a powerful sugar, malt, wet gingerbread. Thick syrupy mouthfeel with bubbles. Noticable alcohol. Flat flavors: bread and yeast. Everything is good except the delivery. Short finish does not contribute.

comes in a bottle way bigger than I’d ever want to drink in a year of this stuff really. Pours to a reddish copper color w/ a small off white head and some ok lacing. Aroma w/ some odd kinda bad scent and some corn and some alcohol, some syrups.. a pretty avg pal, and a nasty flavor.

This wax cap covered bottled brew from a bottle shop poured a large sized head of foamy fine to large sized bubbles that was mostly diminishing and left behind a transparent typically carbonated caramel brown colored body and a fiar lacing. The very much barley wine like aroma was hoppy and mild malt. The mouth feel was weakly tingly at the start and at the finish mild vinous hop aftertaste. The flavor contained notes of malt mild hops sweet and caramel. Delicious and one I would certainly buy again. Surprisingly good. Very nice.

1 liter swingtop bottle (2005) shared with several Quebecois and one other drunk American at tiggmtl’s going away party in Montreal, from a New Belgium glass. Dark amber-red, brackish with a hint of moderate-duration foam....caramel and sea salt strong in the nose, bitter herbs and a mineral-limey character are interesting but more appropriate for whisky than beer....very sweet body, syrupy-oily mouthfeel, little in the way of real hop character unless it’s in the light vegetal-herbal notes towards the finish, but certainly not much bitterness....cloying, with the acerbic/burnt touches towards the finish not helping much.