Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Escondido, California USA

Bottle shared with BeerGestapo. An ’08 vintage. Was hazy amber with a small, quickly diminishing head. The smell had notes of nuts, grass, and toffee with hints of earth and cinnamon. Up until this point I was fairly happy with it. It was when I took a sip that I realized that this beer was either not for me or was a bad bottle. It had a very harsh bitterness and was still somewhat "hot". I could barely taste anything through the bitterness and even then all I could taste was citrus and caramel. I will give it another shot and re-rate but until then I can’t really recommended this beer.

Shared by Jerc and Mabel. Appearance: Orange and red with a small off white head. Aroma: Sweet hops, lots of pepper and ripe bananas, nuts and yeast. Very nice aroma indeed. Flavour: Hops and booze, malt, tons of hops, more than a lot of barley wines I’ve had, an adorable spicy finish, just superb!!!

Finally! A Barleywine both the wife and I enjoy. Enough hops for me (not really) and not to overpowering for her. Good flavor and the alcohol is well hidden.

22 oz bottle, early 2007. Clear pinkish brown with a beige coating. Nose is caramel, candied orange peel and grass. Soft medium body with minimal carb. Taste is apple, toffee and citrus peel with a smooth, bitter lemon finish. Simple but solid, alcohol well hidden. I’m not a big fan of hoppy barleywines but aging seems to have helped this one.

22 oz. 2008 Thick, near opaque orange pour. Some cream colored bubbles at first, then pretty much nothing. Malt, caramel covered apple and citrus aroma. Some booze and light pine. The taste has a lot going on. Caramel/toffee and malt bases. Some red fruits, yellow raisin, citrus and tea/tobacco. Mouthfeel is solid, but carbonated enough to keep it from being syrupy. A little piney hops middle through the finish give this a nice bitter clean finish. More than this would be too much for me, I think the age did good here by me. Drinkable enough for a large warming beer. Still refreshing enough to drink on a summer night. I don’t know if there is a better way of describing this than saying it’s a perfect mix between and English and American(west coast) barleywine. I was really expecting a hop bomb barleywine, boy was I pleased to find different. The year and half probably also helped, but I’m guessing this one was pretty balanced from the beginning.

BANG! *Thud* My head just exploded of flavour overload. This is a big BIG beer. Orange amber in the glass with a beige head which persists surprisingly well for such a high abv beer. The aroma is an assault but a pleasant one. Hard to know where the malt ends and the hops begin, as the hops are woody and spicy rather than the usual USA citrus attack. Similar on the palate, with a ton of woody and vanilla notes - almost like a bourbon. Tasty resinous hops cut through the massive malt with a surgical precision, leaving a streak of bitterness which prevents this hugely malty beast becoming cloying. Not a bad achievement. Warming alcohol makes itself felt but doesn’t stick out at all. An excellent beer and a great one to bring up the 150 ratings.

Cloudy copper pour...Small off white lasting head...Fruity hop aroma...Medium body...Hops dominate the palate...Bit of malty sweetness comes through...Lingering bitterness in the finish...Bit of alcohol...Nice warming...Lacks balance...

Refreshingly smooth and drinkable for the style but not as complex and spicy as I’d hoped.