Traquair 1000th Brew

Formerly brewed at Traquair
Style: Barley Wine
Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland

Bottle at Akkurat, Stockholm, vintage 2000, 8 years old
Cloudy brown color with red shades, with a thick creamy head. Very nice aroma, malt and caramel, quite mature, a bit woody. Good body strength, round mouthfeel, pleasant sweetness; powerful caramel flavor, with notes of mild chocolate and correct bitterness. More chocolate in the end. The alcohol warmth can be perceived, in the end. It reminds me some good Strong Ale from Belgium more than a Barley Wine from England (more chocolate than sticky malts), I like it mostly for it’s round body and medium sweetness; it’s very well brewed and still excellent.

Near black colored, slight red hints. Little light brown head. Sweet, oaky, vinous, even port vinous tones in strong aroma with mild nuts. Near full bodied. Flavor is even more vinous with some licorice and sweet chocolate, aftertaste lats with sweet vinous touch and medium alcohol, some nuts also there. Too sweet for my taste.

Botted (last bottle at Pikilinna, Tampere). Dark rubyish brown colour, small beige head. Aroma of plum with hints of sugar and slight alcohol. Flavour is sweet burnt sugar, plum, yeast and bread. Not as sweet as the house ale. Also the yeast was quite strong in the finish.

Pours dark brown with a small rim of bubbles. Smells of cherries, plums, whiskey, figs. Taste is same with the addition of some other tarte buttery elements and some mild bitter notes. Not hoppy at all, but very tasty and different.

Bottle at The Bier Garden, Portsmouth VA. Dark brown, small tan head. Nose is malt and brown sugar. Pretty fruity for a barley wine, plums mostly, maybe some raisin. Alcohol is evident in the finish. Did not know this was retired, or I’d have bought more! Would love to cellar this one.

Bottled. A murky chocolate brown coloured beer with a fruity sweet fusty (aged) aroma. The taste is big and fruity with plums and alcohol. There is also a bit of chocolate in there. Aged qualities abound. A real Scottish take on a Belgian style beer. Traquair House need to expand their range to brew more beers like this.

Dark brown body with a red gleam. Foamy light tan head. Sweet malt and alcohol dominates the aroma. Spice and toffee notes. Dry and quite sharp. Full and sweet flavor with notes of malt, caramel, spices, chocolate and hop. Bitter dry end. A really nice and tasty barley wine with a fine balance between the sweetness and bitterness. Very complex.

A opaque brown beer with a small brown head. The aroma is sweet malty and so is the flavor combined with notes of roasted bread. I’ll give this a second go, since my notes are very limited for a good beer like this.