The Duck-Rabbit Barleywine

Brewed by The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Farmville, North Carolina USA

From bottle : Pours clear dark amber color, with a foamy off white head, that has big sticky lacing. Alcohol smell, and grapes, i smell the grapes too. Sweet taste, with malts and only a tad bit of alcohol on the end. Thin to medium palate and very smooth. Goes down easy for the high alcohol content. I agree with the other reviews, that it lacks any real complexity. Maybe some age will help.

Pours deep amber. No much of a tan head. Very syrupy pour... the bubbles traveled slowly when swirling. Sweet and fruity with nice malt. Some apricoty maltiness. Not overly hoppy. Surprisingly thin on the palate considering how thick it looks.

Bottle. Dark maroon color, very clear, minimal head. Really interesting nose of alcohol and, strangely, grapes. Warming, malty flavor combines sugar, hops, and cinammon. (revising review after aging) With age, the flavors gain complexity and balance, smoothing out the alcoholic burn and leaving a nice fruity, rich flavor. Figs and liquid smoke hit the back of the tongue. Good stuff and WAY better with some time behind it.

Pours a dark yet clear mahogany with a medium beige head. Aroma of candied malt, cotton candy and dark fruit. Taste is malty with a dark fruity aftertaste. Candied malts detected in the finish. Average barleywine.

Pours a deep clear ruddy copper with a slight skin of minuscule bubbles; aroma of strong caramelized malts, pleasant cough syrup alcohol, and slight leafy hops. OK body, very tangy and dry in the finish, decent medicinal bitterness; can’t say there’s too much going on with this beer, though it did remind me of a lighter, less complex Samael’s Ale. Perhaps needs a little time to mellow out.

Thin-ish on the palate. A little over-hopped for my taste, like a west coast BW. I expected more form these guys.

Pours copper and is just about transparent. About an inch of tan head and some spotty lacing. Fruity esters, hops, and caramel malts on the nose. Taste was very sherry like as a pleasant warming filled my stomach . Big and malty another excellent seasonal from DR

This new arrival in Georgia was picked up at Green’s on Buford Highway today. As I poured the beer into an over sized wine glass, I was surprised at the level of carbonation and head retention in this 11% ABV brew. The body was burnished copper in color, and clear. The aforementioned head was a good three fingers thick, and was creamy enough to form a volcano cone above the rim of the glass. The smell was soft caramel dipped fruit. The spicy hops were also quite strongly evident in the smell. The taste was wondrously earthy sour, and my fears of confronting any cloying sweetness dissolved away as the warmth of the alcohol seared down my throat. The dryness was like sipping on some fine sherry. There were some lingering dry fruits in the finish. The body felt a little small, but it made this fine beer all the more drinkable. All of the ingredients felt a little bit disjointed at this young age, but I can clearly see the greatness this beer will achieve with a few years of aging. Welcome to our state Duck-Rabbit.