Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

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

Bottle@GrOve’s. A thin beige, fine-laced head resting on deep golden to pale amber colored body. Strong caramellish malt aroma. Some fruity and grassy hops and a whiff of alcohol. Rich malt body, medium sweet with a quite heavy hop bitterness. Earth, fruit and grass. Feels a bit rough on the palate, yet nicely balanced. Finishes with a long, kind of peppery bitterness. A potent sipper!

2009. clear amber under a small off-white head. sweet strong fruity(apple, strawberry, mango) hop aroma. palate light-medium bodied, warming, and sticky. flavors of hops, alcohol, sweet malts, and a twist of citrus. slightly lingering boozy finish. could use some age.

Big thanks to Beerdrenched for sharing this one. I belive this was the 2005 version. Poured hazy ruby / amber with a soapy off-white head. Aroma has lots of musty malt - caramel / toffee. Has a medium body, that has filling feeling due to the carbonation. Taste initially has alcohol and caramel. Finish has lots of alcohol completely unmasked. There is also brown sugar sweetness and some piney hops. The beer was okay, but far too much of an ABV presence. This didn’t live up to the hype for me. Maybe the 2005 doesn’t age well. Hopefully I can find a 2006 and do a more positive rerate.

2004 release. This poured nicely. Good head with an amber/brown color that displayed just a bit of murkiness. Rich complex aroma of malts, hops and dark fried fruits. The palate was well balanced, with enough hops to differentiate this from an English Style Barleywine, yet not too over the top either. Sweetly complex flavor to match the aroma. This one is well done.

2006 bottle - This barley wine has a great malt, oak, and hop aroma. All three blend together nicely in the flavor with some alcohol presence, but not too much. I think a year of aging has been good for it. It’s another great brew from Stone.

Powerfully hoppy aroma, some peppery alcohol, sugary malt and citric fruitiness, with notes of spice, pine, light brown sugar, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, and some very faint toasty graininess as it warms. Deep red-orange color, dusted with sediment, the head a slight ring of fine bubbles. Flavor profile is massive and intense, beginning with a large dosage of spicy hop flavor and bitterness, becoming maltier, sweeter and fruitier by midpoint and with a drying finish that sees the hops firmly reestablishing their presence amidst the potent, warming alcohol. The body is quite full, mouthfeel is smooth and seemingly befitting. I must add to the litany of comments suggesting this be laid down for a couple of years, I can definitely see further and better flavor integration down the line, although it is certainly a fine West Coast Barleywine as is.

Tasted at By the Bottle tasting in Vancouver, Washington--Poured a deep copper color with a fluffy off-white head. Monstrous hoppy bitter, and malty nose. Lots going on. Sharp and bombastic. Finishes with a big bittering grasp. High ABV well masked. Another nice Stone offering.

On tap @ Bodega 2008 vintage: Kinda surprised I haven’t rated this yet. Pours a dark amber with a off white head. Aroma, boozy fruits, caramel, sweet malts, some earthy hops. Flavor, at first it’s very hot, and I was put off by it, as it warms it got back to what it should be, sweet caramel malts, generous earthy and citrus hops, some fruits, and a nice bitterness on the finish.