Thomas Hooker Old Marley Barleywine

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

Hello barleywine. Thanks John! Pours a very dark crimson/brown color. Small light brown head. Aroma is wonderful, full of dark fruits, caramel, brown sugar, grassy/piney hop overtones. Flavor is sweet, lots of alcohol burn goes into a cherry liquor thing. Could use age.

Tap at David Copperfields. Left overs from the event. Poured dark ruby with a thick tan head. Beautfiul color and unusually dark for a Barley Wine. Smell had too much alcohol. There were hints of caramel, currant, blueberry, toffee and bourbon. Alcoholic taste and quite syrupy. I liked the Blueberry. That was quite unique in my opinion. This tasted like it needs to age, but it was still very good.

2006 vintage - Cool blue glass that the bottle is made out of. Murky brown with a fine paritcled tan head. Sweet caramel tobacco roasted malt. Sweet, alcohol, quite hoppy. Caramel and toffee. Full bodied with a sharp alcoholic bite towards the middle. Woodinees becomes very apparent after the swallow. Decent stuff but not great.

Threatening tart aroma with prominent hops. Bitter, woody, strong. Sturdy hopping, ABV bitterness as well. Moderate fruitiness. Not too sweet. Initial mouthfeel is a bit syrupy, but then it moderates. Chocolate in the tail-end of the swallow and vanilla in the finish. Quite good. On tap, David Copperfield’s.

First off... the bottle is beautiful... a nice purple with the swing top and decent wrapping. Very dark brown pour with virtually no head. Aroma is of vanilla, dried fruit, coffee and bittering hops. Whew... the taste is warm with alcohol... lots of alcohol flavors such as the advertised bourbon and maybe cognac. Barrel aged as well? There is some vanilla, cherry and dried fruit... plum for sure. Nice bitter finish, alcohol lingers into the finish. The hops shine in this one, especially in the finish, but there are some really complex alcohol and deep malt notes as well. I really like this one... recommended!!! Even 4 according to me.

The Old Marley arrived in a 500 ml swing top bottle with yellow tape proclaiming “bottled in 2006” across the cap. As I started to pour, I realized that the bottle was actually deep blue in color. This was certainly the darkest Barleywine, I had ever seen. The murky brown color was dark enough to be a Porter, and there was almost no head to be found here. The pop when opening the swing top indicated this was an intentionally low carbonation beer.

As I put my nose up to the glass, a muted and spicy hop smell greeted me. Under that, there was a layer of smoke and vanilla aroma. The taste was loaded with toasty malt revealing an interesting sour-sweet flavor profile. Licorice and spearmint were some tastes that came to mind. As powerful as the malts were, the hops literally wiped them clean mid palette, with a spicy blast that lingered awhile. Drier and more astringent than a typical barleywine in the aftertaste, the smoky porter like flavors started peeking through after the swallow, but hops were still very dominant.

A little green at this sampling, this one will do well with cellaring. Old Marley is not a lively beer, but it is far from dead as a doornail.

ha, apparently i had a different take on this one... i got a big musty aroma and flavor on this, and i dont know why because i think it was new. some carmel, dates, raisins, chocolate, and soy sauce. rough.

A brownish to black apperance. The aroma consists of figs, raisins, and chocolate. The flavor was very sweet with alot of dark fruit present and a burbon finish. Interesting stuff.