The Duck-Rabbit Barleywine

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

Dark Red Colored with Big Sandy Head. Diminishes Slowly. Alot of Plum/Raisin on the Nose. Very Sweet Malt, Lightly Toasted. Noes of Plums and Raisins..Syrupy Mouthfeel.. Sweet Dry Aftertaste. Nice Warming. Nice Simplistic Barleywine. Quite Enjoyable on a Winter’s Night.

Yet another bottle courtesy of boboski. Thanks again.

This beer poured a stunning clear deep copper with 3 inch fluffy tan head. It has a sweet aroma of candied cherries, plums and dates that have been beaten with a mallet and allowed to soak in alcohol. I also get a note of sweet caramel. The first impression of the flavor is that it tastes like an English style barleywine. There’s a medley of fruit such as dark dark cherries, sweet black grape juice, dates, raisins and cranberries. I also get a cherry cough drop quality.

12 oz bottle, via Boboski. Pours a completely clear dark copper under a small tight bubbled beige head that fell to a whispy covering. The nose is quite sweet, and reminds me of cotton candy when you get past the moderate piney hops. A little light alcohol. Flavor has way too much sugary sweetness from front to back. The minimal bitterness towards the finish falls way short of balancing this out. The alcohol is very well hidden for being 11% at least. Mouthfeel is full bodied, fairly thick in texture, but not especially sticky or cloying in texture for how sweet it is. Carbonation is moderate and a little fizzy. Can’t say that I really cared for this one too much. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of complexity.

Bottle. Off-white fizzy average head (mostly dissapated). Cola like coloring but with slightly more red. Good lacing. Aroma of vanilla, cloves. dark fruit, and honey-sweeter than expected. Flavor adds to the aromas mentioned with a slight mediciny(sp?), cough syrup flavor. This flavor subsides some as i con tinue to consume. Light to medium bodied. Watery textured. Medium duration on finish. Hmm? This is not bad but not exactly good. After trying the imperial stout, I expected more from this barley wine.

Re-rate. Had this 6 months later. Aroma is of malt, yeast, carmel and very light hops. Flavor upfront is of candy, dark fruit, spice, toffee, and some hop. The alcohol has really backed off already. Not as astringent as before. The malt is still very big here, but the neutralization of the alcohol has brought out the complexity that exists in this beer. Still very sweet. One is more than enough. There is some oxidation here, but not enough to be offensive. This is a nicely done barleywine.

So I’m sitting here in Argo0’s house and he’s giving me royal crap about not rating recently. Hmm. OK, here goes... This is a funky smelling beer. Exceptionally fruity aromas of mango and papaya, nearly overripe peach. Very sweet toffee flavors intermingle with herbal bitterness and tobacco. Almost fatiguingly sweet, but still mesmerizing. Full-bodied and slick. Good.

(12oz bottle, thanks wilkie) Crystal clear copper body with small beige head. Aroma is moderately sweet, cherry, mango, caramel. Taste is sweet, cherry, peach, toffee, earthy, some alcohol warming. Sticky medium-full body. Unusual, but not sure I fully embrace what they do here.

Sprtizy fruit and chocolate aroma,setlles to a grain ,caramel and colaaroma, taste is pretty much dominated by sharp fruit esters with spiced alcohol,and hop bitterness,tastey enough,but the harshness detracts a little