Traquair 1000th Brew

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

Bottled. Dark ruby coloured colour. Dried fruits, chocolate and a little licoricy. A bit astringent finish. Very flavourful. I wonder what hops were added. American?

Bottled: Brown/red coloured. Brownish head. Fruit, load of malt and some alcahol in the aroma. Fruitsweetness, alcahol and some chocolatish notes in the flavour. Pretty well balanced. Finishes with a nice alcahol burnt and some fruit notes. Nice one.

Bottled. Deep, dark, rich body. Slightly foggy. Speckled beige head. Bitter astringent chocolate flavour. Rich and dark. [London gathering: Spiesy, Duff, chris_o, Marty-D and SilkTork]

Beer #24 at Spiesy’s. The beer of the session for me, even though I was, by this stage, suffering from severe palate fatigue caused by too many rich strong beers. This is, of course, a rich strong beer, but it managed to distinguish itself. Very deep rich brown colour. Licorice, heavy malt and a hint of tar in the aroma, wrapped up in a musty, old ale style overcoat. Lots of berry fruit developing in the flavour, with woody notes, burnt caramel, christmas pudding and sharp marmalade. Quite sweet, but here’s a good hit of acidity to balance that and a slightly sour finish. Exemplary, but I couldn’t drink too much of it. Bottle.

Bottle - Dec 2002. The Grand Canyon of beers. Lift your skirts and let the breeze tickle your fancy. [4.3]
Bottle @ Spiesy’s place. Alcohol raisin aroma - vintage notes - slightly oxidised. Sweet and yummy. Dark and delicious, though I liked it better when younger. [4.0]

Sampled @ Helsinki Beer Festival 2004
Dark brown or even black, thick light brown head. Malty, roasted, a bit sweet and wineous aroma. Flavor is malty, roasted and a bit sweet. Very full body. Very nice barley wine for cold winter nights.

Bottled (Helsinki Beer Festival 2004)
Dark ruby color. Head has an expresso color and is steady. Roasted malt, sweet blackberries - very heavy aroma. Taste is sweet malts, berries and alcohol, full-bodied. Real winter warmer.

(Bottled, at the Helsinki Beer Festival 2004, re-rate@Mallaskukko, Turku) Very dark brown, small head. Extremely caramel-malty, port-wineous, sweet and spicy aroma. Oily, very wineous, spicy liqueour flavor. Very full-bodied, oily and slightly alcoholic palate. A very pleasant, enjoyable and full-bodied brew.