Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

This ale pours a hazy copperwith a nice sized head and great lacing. Flavors of caramel,mild hops, and slightly floral. full bodied and very nice.07 vintage at The Petrol Station.

[1986-20090201] 1pt6floz bottle. Grainy mild fruity plum rum alcohol aroma. Dark brown amber body with a quick foamy off-white head. Dry wood thick plum fruit flavour with toasted Cheerios and a sweet long aftertaste. Full body. Tasty, but didn’t knock my socks off. (8/3/7/3/15) 3.6
(Vintage 2007; c/o DuctTape, w/ others)

[2297B-20090626] 1pt6floz bottle. Orange hops aroma has lots of heavy yeast fruit. Hazy, dark orange amber body with a long-lasting foamy light yellow head and nice lacing. Yeasty orange hops flavour is just packed full of fresh hops. Full body. Tasty, boozy. (8/5/9/4/17) 4.3
(From Premier Gourmet, Buffalo, NY; Vintage 2008; w/ garthicus, jerc)

22 oz bottle shared by Gregis, early 2007 Vintage. Pour is golden orange with a smallish off white head. Nice lacing left on the glass. Aroma of soft perfumey toasted caramel with decent orange citrus bitterness. Taste is malty caramel, apple fruit sweetness with pine hop and honey orange bitterness. Nice mineral grainy earthiness to the finish. There is a hint of the Stone yeast, more of the earthy mineral flavor. Palate is medium, mouth coating, alcohol present in the long finish. Nice one, thanks for sharing this one with me Greg.

(1pt 6oz btl) (2009) Pours a rich amber w/ a fully diminishing, frothy, white head. Resinous hops and toffee aroma. Hops prominent in taste lending a black pepper bite to malt sweetness. Finish is bitter w/ a hint of smoke. Slight alcohol warmth and definitely not cloying. Looking forward to tasting a few cellared bottles.

~Pours an orange amber with off white head. ~Woodsy hop aroma that is similar in other Stone brews. Caramel malts also dominate along with alcohol. ~Has a smoked pine flavor, very bitter. Some sweetness. As a hop lover it is very delicious. ~Medium sticky feel. Similar to IPA. Sharp bitter finish. Leaves mouth watering wanting more. ~ This is my kind of barleywine. I enjoy a m ore intesely hop barleywine like this one opposed to super sweet ones. Very good!

Dry Hopped Old Guardian on tap at BoHo (gastropub) in Los Angeles. Not very aromatic, had a faint hint of hops. Golden light color, very crisp fresh hoppy taste with the bite of a barley wine. Very unique for a barley wine because of the intense amount of hops.

This Stone seems to have one of the better mixes of malts and hops. Both are strong, but not the over-the-top flavor of some of Stone’s beers. Good after dinner beer.

Very good in every respect. The only BW I have rated higher is SN’s Bigfoot, which is less sweet. I gave old ruffian same rating. Smooth and balanced.