Trafalgar Korruptor

Brewed by Trafalgar Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Oakville, Canada

Bottle 200 ml at Volo - Toronto
Appearance: thick , mid haze , little to no lace , amber brown. 3-
Nose: Medicinal , sour fruity feel with sweets below , touch of plum. 6-
Flavor/Palate : spiced vegetable , touch of cabbage , honey and alcohol. Rough vegetable mid with sugary sides.

200 ml bottle from Garthicus. Nose of honeycomb, the sweetness of candi sugar, and some light apple notes. Clear rust with a very few bubbles. Flavor is sweet honey with some golden raisins, and actually only a tiny bit of alcohol. finish slightly sweet honey! Duh! another mead, maybe! Pretty decent if it’s a mead. Pretty poor Barleywine!

200mL bottle from the X-Mas giftpacks that for no apparent reason just showed up at my LCBO, ’seasonably late’ I guess. The word ’bizarre’ doesn’t begin to describe this beer-like substance. They obviously spent a FORTUNE on the packaging of this product, the label on the tiny clear-glass bottle being a peice of cardboard that was obviously cut out by hand. Oh but it doesn’t stop there. In the bottle, it’s a pale gold colour, upon pouring, IT CHANGES COLOUR! I s*** you not, turns a darker amber-gold hybrid colour with surprising carbonation. Wow. Smells, odd. Booze, cardboard, pen ink, Chrystal malts, and a single hop bud getting the crap beat out of it by the booze. Flavour is, UUUUHHHHHGGGGGG. That is the adjective I have chosen. This might be the single sweetest ’beer’ I’ve ever come across. Holy crap. Unbe-f***ing-lievably sweet malt body with some Earthy hops in the finish. There might be more in there but I’m too busy picking up my teeth off the floor that fell rotted out due to the sugar content to notice or care. This product is f***ing insane. Why? And now all that carbonation suddenly disappeared? What? Absolutely undrinkable. It’s like a trip to the dentist. What an insane and probably unneccessary experience. I might have just lost a piece of myself that I’ll never get back (and it’s not just my teeth).

Date: March 27, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Words: rated as a mislabeled mead
Appearance: clear dark amber, still, viscous
Aroma: sweet dark caramelized and honey aroma, light fruityness
Body: thick body
Flavor: sweet honey flavor, nice fruity character, just a hint of alcohol
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.9/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Pours a mostly still transparent copper amber and some legs. Aroma of sweet dark honey and fruity berry notes with a touch of lavender. Starts with a rich sugary malty sweetness and a touch of raisins and dark berries before a lightly warming finish. A pretty decent mead (mislabeled as a barleywine).

200 ml bottle from an LCBO gift pack. wow these were weird beers. this offering pours a simple still amber. no carbonation at all. the aroma is very sweet. very much a watered down malt extract aroma with an apple note thrown in. the flavour is also quite sweet. there is just nothing to help the sweetness at all. this sample came back lab tested by the LCBO at 14% but there is so much residual sugar that im sure with the proper yeast strain this could have reach ~20% ABV. not that it would have made this beer any better, im just trying to impart on anyone who is reading this just how sweet the "finished" product was. i just dont know what to make of this brewery and im truely surprised to see it remain in business and hold the shelf space it does at the LCBO.

Bottle. This beer is amber in colour with no head at all. There is very little carbonation. The aroma made me gag at first; it kind of reminds me of paint thinner. It is certainly more of a chemical aroma, than one of beer. Between the fumes there is some honey and grass. I agree that the mouthfeel is syrupy, almost like sugar water. There is something in this that reminds me of cough syrup, and I get the same expression on my face with each sip...ugh. The alcohol overwhelms the otherwise very sweet flavour, with cheap candy sugar and honey.

Bottled sample. Amber in colour with moderate carbonation. Aromas of stale pale malts, earthy hops, and chemicals. Some hop flavor, but the thinned out caramel malt and earthy/dirty water notes are strongest. The chemical astringency along with a thin body make for a poor drinking experience. Not good at all.