Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

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

Brilliant amber golden. Juicy sweet malt aroma. Smells sticky. SOme flowery and vuaguely citrusy hop aroma. Brown sugar. Lean bodied, clean tasting. Not a ton of malt complexity. Doesn’t really show much of its 10% alc. Bitter, with not a lot of hop flavor. Extremely nice without being too complex

Exceptional. Rich. Malty. Solid barley wine. I love Stone brewing. You are not worthy!

22 oz bottle, snifter. Caramel, cereal, toffee, candi sugar? malt (H); flower and perfume hops (M); light alcohol, white grapes, pear, peach, butterscotch aromas. Average sized, creamy, off-white, diminishing head sits on an amber-orange body. Heavily sweet, heavily acidic flavor becomes a heavily sweet, heavily acidic, moderately bitter finish. Medium-full body, oily/creamy texture, moderately alcoholic, lively carbonation, slightly astringent. The bottom line is: this one is really hot right now, but I expected that. Great toffee / butterscotch aftertaste.

The 2005 version is not hot out of the bottle close to it’s release date. Sure, there’s some alcohol, but nothing like last year’s. Also, there’s a big biscuit presence that I didn’t notice previously. I’ve adjusted my ratings to go with what would be found on the shelves right now.

Winter 2005 release one year later 22oz - Aroma is alcohol and hops with a touch of carmel. Appreance hasn’t changed from original rating. Flavor is the opposite of aroma with the carmel being dominate, alcohol follows, then the hops. It is very smooth with a warming effect but not the burn I remember from the freshy. A year has been nice to this one.

Original rate date 3/1/05 score: 7/4/7/4/16=3.8
Winter 2005 release 22oz bottle - This is a sharp and hoppy barleywine with an aroma to match. Hops, malt, carmel with an alcohol bite. Great looking reddish brown with quickly dissipating off-white head and spotty lacing. Flavor is lasting bite of hops, alcohol, and carmel malts. I’m sure a year or two will make this an awesome brew.

Orange colored,translucent, moderate white head. Aroma of pine and alcohol. Flavor is fairly sweet offset some by the hop bitterness. As with most barleywines, srupy body. Dry finish for a barleywine. Good Beer.

Fresh bottle of 2009, one of the extras sampled at the Sam Smith tasting at Blacklick Wine and Spirits on 2.5.09. I remember having the 2007 version and it not having much hop. This one is waaaaay different. Pours dark amber with a small head. Hoppy and fruity aroma with caramel malt and candi sugar notes. Malty and sugary flavor like most barley wines, but the hop presence is dominating. Not bad.

woody aroma with a warm alcohol finish. Some sweet malt notes with a bitter hop edge. alcohol is presence and gives it a warm feeling. Mohagany in color with a thinslightly off white head.

a bit to srong/bitter tasting for me,made me pucker up at each mouthfull. not for me! 6/12/04 the more i drink of this the better it gets,just got in from mowing the lawn and this glass is awsone,,getting better.