Third Coast Old Ale

Brewed by Bells Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Amazingly, if I have had this one, I don’t remember. A very impressive looking beer, a dark, deep amber color with a nice fruity sweet aroma. This beer is sweet, malty and full of fruit, but has a nice hop presence and a nice warm ending. This is a great beer, one that could only improve with time. I would like to try this one on draft or maybe try it in a vertical tasting.

12 oz bottle from Greenwood in Bowling Green. Off-white moderate head fades quickly and leaves some lacing on sides of glass. Rusty brown body, slightly hazy and thick. Aroma of walnut, malt, alcohol. A relatively light barleywine on the palate with flavors of molasses, brown sugar, banana, caramel, & oak. The alcohol is pretty forward on this one.

I have been cellaring this since 2003: Pours a murky brick red with almost no head. Brown sugar, plums, maple syrup, damp basement and alcohol on the nose. Flavor of caramel and prunes up front with a slight alcohol finish. Very little carbonation. No hops apparent at all. Very easy to drink. This ages better than most of the other barleywines I have cellared, but I prefer it fresh.

Aroma: Very standard barley wine style aroma. Nothing distinctive, but nice and nothing offensive. Apperance. Intersting 3-pour. First third (top third of botte) amber, transparent with a little settlement. Second third: more brown but significant move to translucent bordering on opaque. Bottom third: Opaque, brown. Taste: Combined all three pours. Typical barleywine, although I would say the heat of the alcohol wasn’t as well hidden as I would like. Palate: again, typical barleywine style - it was fine, but nothing outstanding. Overall: solid, safe Barley Wine style ale, but not truly exceptional.

Pours a dark amber color with a slight frothy head. Has a mild caramel smell. A bit smokey with hints of caramel very different for a barley wine. I will age this one and I can’t wait to re rate.

Dark brown in color. Almost no head. Aroma of malt and yeast. Flavors of malt, hops, toffee and raisins. A smooth taste, warming and tingling. For being 10.5% this beer is real easy to drink.

Aroma is strong but soft, malty and yeasty with an earthy undertone. It pours a dark clear amber brown with not much of a head. Flavor is malty, earthy, slightly hoppy, with smoky undertones and just a hint of cloves. Texture is fairly tingly and edgy, but also smooth and soft as a kitten.

The bottle looks good, the beer in the glass also. Starts old-malty, firy, a bit earthy, modest alcoholic. Finish a bit moldy. Well balanced finish, really good beer!