Square One Barley Wine

Brewed by Square One Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
St. Louis, Missouri USA

Appearance: Pours a near clear, dark amber body with a thin layer of bubbles that I would be remiss to call a "head". Smell: A meager handful of fruit and grains simply drowning in a vat of alcohol and De Kuyper Butterscotch liqueur. It’s too late to turn back now! Taste: Upfront taste of sweet caramel, severely so, even. A few faint hits of fruit. There’s a harsh flood of alcohol that washes over the tongue, leaving me wondering just what the ABV percentage is on this sucker. Slight citrus with a medium-high bitterness. More reckless sweetness and alcohol. Finishes sweet and hot. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium-low carbonation. Drinkability: A barleywine that comes across as coarse and clumsy. Overly sweet and hot are fine when it comes to busty blondes, but less appealing when it comes to barleywines. This could use a heft in body, a deeper malt profile, and some restraint in the alcohol department -- back to square one, Square One.

On tap at Square One Brewpub. Dark copper with a thin white head. Aroma of alcohol and sweet malt. Taste of alcohol, caramel, mild fruit and more alcohol. Starts out mostly smooth but finished up alky with some major warming going on. Could really use some time to mellow out.

Date: February 27, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: cloudy dark amber, fine beige head
Aroma: sweet and fruity aroma, dark caramel sweetness, nice fruityness
Flavor: rich fruity flavor, dark caramel sweetness is well balanced by an earthyness
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.9/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Dark brown to deep red with no head. aroma is moderate, predominantly of alcohol with some faint sweetness. Taste is a bit lacking, slightly sour-tangy and not as complex or full bodied as I would expect from a barley wine. Only decent.

Growler: Pours a transparent ruby mahogany with a thin ring of off-white head. Aroma of rich sweet caramel malts with some fresh citrusy hops and biscuity character. Starts with good fullness and sweet sugary caramel flavor with some light fruity notes before a thinner, semi-sweet finish with a touch of lingering bittering hops. A decent barleywine, but could use a little more body and complexity.

Draft at the brewpub. To my surprise and against the commercial description here, this was served in a full-size shaker pint glass. Sweet, sugary, lightly fruity aroma, with notes of toffee, red apple, bubblegum, toasted malts, medicinal alcohol, nuttiness, brown sugar and a hint of spice. Mostly clear medium red-amber color, head is fine and subsiding. Flavor is predominantly malty to start, sweet and sugary, more toffee and brown sugar, but plenty of hop spiciness is quick to follow, also seeing a moderately strong bitterness enter about midpoint, some peppery alcohol present in the background throughout, finishing with touches of licorice, red apple skin and vanilla. Gently effervescent thick and warming on the palate, body is exceedingly full. Interesting interpretation, if not particularly complex -- more of an English take on the style, seemingly.

cloudy copper color, no head, not much lacing. yeasty fruity nose. very sweet creamy malty flavor. kind of too fizzy on the tongue, sweet finish. pretty enjoyable if a touch too sweet. on tap at square one brewery.

(draught) amber with barely any head. Slightly sweet malt aroma. Slightly sweet biscuit/carmel malt flavors. Fairly full mouthfeel. Couldn’t really taste the alcohol. A fairly straightforward barley wine