Stewarts Barleywine

Brewed by Stewarts Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Bear, Delaware USA

2006 vintage on tap at the brewpub (05/26/09). Deep ruby red in color with a decent sized beige head. Aroma is of cherries, booze, prune, raisins, toffee, and caramel. Taste is of booze, caramel, toffee, fruit and hops. A little hot.

On tap at Stewarts. Vintage 03. Poured into snifter. Poured ruby red with big tan head. Aroma was dark fruit, sugar, sweet. Taste was similar with a nice smooth texture and goes down the hatch very easy. The 03 might be a little past its prime but still very good.

On tap at Stewarts... 08 Barleywine. Poured into a snifter, big head with a dark red color. Aroma was dark fruits. Taste was sweet, light figs, dark fruits touch of sugar. Texture was very soft and easy to drink. No trace of alcohol in this one. Good barleywine that I enjoyed on a cold day.

On tap at KSBF ’08 (2008 vintage). Poured a deeper and cloudy amberish color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of dark fruits, caramel, nutty, and lightly earthy. Tastes of caramel, toffee, dark fruity, and nutty. Brown sugary sweetness. Light alcohol in the finsh (but overall well hidden).

2005 draft version. Ruby brownish color with minimal off-white head. Complex aroma and flavor that include notes of heavy malt, hops, fruits including cherry, berry, plum, fig, and brown sugar, slight rauchy notes, slight vanilla, and mild spirity notes. This one reminded me of a hoppier version of the GLI 275th, with perhaps a bit less body. Well done, Ric.

Draft sampled of 2005 vintage at the brewpub. Pours a deep copper color with a small off-white head. Aroma of caramel malts, dark fruit, alcohol, and vanilla. Very complex flavor of sweet malts, wood, caramel, brown sugar, and a hint of light smoke. A very good barley wine.

2003 sampled at the Brew Pub. Deep ruby-eggpalant color with a small head. Aroma is big, malty and sweet with lots of dark fruit. Flavor has a heavy malt profile with berries and some earthiness. A tad hot and a bit medicinal. this one is still a pretty good brew.

First thing that stood out to me was the aroma. The head was more than moderate for a barley wine but dissipated quickly dissipates leaving slight patchy lacing. Initial aroma is of caramel, banana and cherry tones, as the head fades the cherry becoming more prominant. The color is a nice amber. Stewart’s serves this too cold unfortunatley with the limitations of their setup and this was taken into consideration. I talked a bit with the brewer and it was mentioned that they went with a different barley (English) from last year. I let it warm gradually to roughly 10 degrees lower than what it was served. First impression was good. The texture was malty with slight hints on raisons, caramel warming over to a prominant orange citrus note. The finish is slightly bitter with emerging hints of chocolate. After warming closer to room temperature cherry became more prominant and the texture more honey like with faint hints of raisin and nutmeg, finishing with slightly less bitterness and the same chocolate notes. The alcohol content was noticable but not overpowering. Overall, this had the complexity I was hoping for. I’m hoping they cask condition age this. A great dessert beer!