Stoudts Old Abominable

Formerly brewed at Stoudts Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Adamstown, Pennsylvania USA

750ml Bottle: Aroma of caramel, malts, pine, hops, and a little citrus. Poured ruby/amber in color with a large, rocky, tan head that lasted throughout. Hazy. Full of tiny particles. Excellent lacing. Flavor is medium bitter. Tastes of caramel malts, citrus, and piney hops. Not much else to the flavor. Light to medium body. Thin, watery, chalky texture. Soft carbonation. Piney, chalky finish. Left me disappointed as I expect more from Stoudt’s.

On tap from Teresa’s Next Door. Mostly clear mahogany with a medium head. Aroma of caramel, toffee and alcohol. Light candied fruits (plums or cherries) in the taste as well as a bit of alcohol. The taste does finish with some nice floral/citrus hops.

Draft at Fatheads in Pittsburgh. Pours dark amber with an off white head. Medium bodied, but without that rich maltiness found in many barleywines. It is more of an American Strong Ale in the texture department. Aroma of vanilla and sugary malts. Initial flavor of caramel and dark fruits, with wood, cheap whisky, and herbal bitterness coming out mid-palate. Finish is semi dry and slightly acidic. Right now, this seems a tad messy. The transitions are not smooth and harmonious. I would love to get a bottle, because I think some cellar time would improve this one.

A decent barley wine, though I am not too big on the style. Aroma was suprisingly weak for the style. A little Vicks with some malt and dark fruit. Pour was a nice dark amber/brown with a one finger off white head. Taste was weak for a barley wine. Believe me, I usually like the weaker ones, but this was just too weak. Plum, caramel and butterscotch with a mild alcohol burn. Hides the alcohol well, just doesn’t do much in the taste department.

On tap at the Bocktown. Barely any aroma on this stuff, just clean and simple to the olfactory. Looks like iced tea, and it has attractive lacing like the thin lingerie on your favorite girl friend. On the palate there is barely any carbonation. The taste is rude and leathery, the flavor of rotting damp balsa wood or old moldy tree stumps. Yes, has the correct name, old and abominable. Way too much for my sissy taste buds. However, this is a good example of an american barley wine, I just don’t care for this particulr style.

At the 2nd Annual Hell With The Lid Off Barley Wine Festival at Kelly’s Bar in East Liberty, Pittsburgh. Hazy caramel, thin head. Aroma is citrus, kiwi, grass, malt, floral. Flavor is whiskey, fruit, slightly buttery.

Notes from Christmas 2006. Pours hazy brownish ruby edged, with minimal off-white head. Aroma is caramel malty, with some figgy fruit, bourbon, wet hops, brown sugar, plum. Tastes palate hefty with an initial caramel malty and figgy flavor, with the backup wet hops, brown sugar, and slightly rauchy notes at the end. Complex.

On tap at Mad Mex. Dark amber/brown with small off-white head. One-dimensiional sweet aroma of caramel, molasses, and brown sugar. Flavor better balanced with some spice, fruits, sugars and subtle grassy hops.