Sprecher Barley Wine Ale

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

Yet another very cool brew courtesy of markwise. The funky little bottle pours out copper with gold edges and thin off white head. The aroma is full English barleywine with cherries, raisins, dates, prunes and ripe plums mixing with mild sweet sugary malts. The taste quickly takes on a blended and smooth dark fruitiness with all the usual suspects like prunes, cherries, plums, raisins and figs. I also get modest amounts of sweet malts underneath creating some added interest to the flavor. Tasty stuff.

2007 Vintage. Appearance: Pours out a clear, bright, amber-hued body with a meager amount of whitish foam on top. Smell: Rather sweet-scented nose of toasted caramel, golden raisins, and store-brand honey submerged in a sugary solution and dosed with a few drops of sherry. A few alcoholic wafts emanating from the brew as well. Taste: And it’s off to a sugary sweet start! Sprecher’s Barleywine opens with a heavy-handed pour of simple syrup stirred up with smaller hints of caramel and wildflower honey. Small touch of toastiness and sherry. Marked by some fruity tastes of Golden Raisins and Golden Delicious Apples. Two years out, there’s no apparent hop character or balancing bitterness. Finishes smooth and sweet. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium-low carbonation. Drinkability: For me, it’s a bit lacking in those overall luscious malt complexities I look for in a fine barleywine, leaving you instead with simply alcohol and an overabundance of residual sweetness. Sure, there are many far worse things to toss down one’s gullet than sweet alcohol, but that doesn’t make for a gratifying barleywine

Cool bottle with a metal label. Crazy, talk about expensive packaging. Poured deep orange. Nose was fruit, sweet malts, mild oxidation, butter, toffee, port wine and bread. Flavor was a mild tartness, some cardboard, cherries, fruity esters, plum, grapes, booze.

16 oz bottle from the brewery and the last bottle of my February trip to Wisco haul. Pours a nice decent hazed fiery orange amber, a decent offwhite head that that dies to a small film, laces a bit. Aromas are candied fruits and caramel, toffee, some light floral hops, a touch of butterscotch, fairly sweet. Ok. Initial is toffee and caramel, sweet with a touch of candied fruit, oranges, a light floral bitterness, marmalade, lighter bodied than anticipated, almost underbodied. Light carbonation, faint butterscotch towards the finish. A decent beer, but underbodied and lacking complexity.

Bottle [16oz] courtesy of HogTownHarry. 2006 vintage. Pours a very deep orange-red with an average size diminishing frothy tan head. Nice aroma of caramel malt, dark fruit, a good amount of hops, port, some bready notes and more. Flavour: Delicious! What is with the rating? It should be higher. Caramel malt, dark fruit, a bit of alcohol, some wood and light hops in the finish. Sticky mouthfeel. Wow, this is totally underrated in my opinion -- maybe it’s only really good aged? Either way, I loved it.

Snagged a bottle after a tour of the brewpub. Nice, but a bit sweet, even for the style, and very light in color for a barley wine.

2007 16oz. wax sealed bottle, hazy pumpkin colored pour, little carbonation and a very strong spice and malt aroma. Flavor was malty, cinnamon, some stone fruits and a little boozy cherry syrup on the finish. Not bad at all! I have another bottle in the cellar and have to imagine this will only get better with age.

Had the 16 oz 2006 bottle, which had the wax on the cap. Opened this in 2009, and I must say I was immediately impressed by the complex balance in the aroma. There was some slight alcohol present in the background, but overall, it had a lot of fruity aromas and strong malt, with a nice hop background. The appearance was hazy and a medium copper color. Upon tasting, I found a bit of alcohol present, but an incredible complex malt profile going on. I get a bit of raisin with a bit of sweetness in the background. The hops are definitely still there, and are balanced nicely. Overall, this is one of the nicer american versions I have tasted in quite some time and I feel a lot of it may have to do with the aging.