Woodfordes Headcracker

Brewed by Woodfordes
Style: Barley Wine
Broadland Brewery
Woodbastwick, England

Bottle. Hazy amber, small particles, small white head. Fruity, winous aroma. Flavours are more solidly fruity, good dry aftertaste. Good bitterness. Light body for a barley wine. Not quite there.

A hazy golden orange coloured beer with a very weak head. A strong sweet malty nose with some winey fruit aromas. A bitter sweet taste of vine fruits, a slight sherry-like element, along with a sweet malt flavour. There is a citrusy sharpness to the finish. (Bottle, BCA - The Branthill Real Ale Shop, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk for £2.90 a bottle).

500ml bottle sampled with Finn at the Dove Street Inn, Ipswich. Hazy orange. Almost no foam. Compact dark fruit aroma. Flavour: Sweet dried fruit with a yeasty touch. Full bodied (23.09.2006).

Bottle 0,5l. Golden coloured. unclear. A tiny head. The alcohol is well hidden - in fact most of the beer was hidden. Disappointing for a barley wine.

Bottle. This pours a hazy golden color, with a frothy white head. The aroma is grainy, while the flavor is smooth and slightly sweet. It’s a fairly tame barleywine.

Cask at Peterborough Beer Fest 2006. Clear copper with a medium white head. Fruity (orange, peach, others) and very foresty. Like licking a tree branch after poking an orange with it. 7% is not apparent at all and this is a rarity amid English ales above 6%. During my stay in London I had both the cask and the bottle and I thought the cask was smoother and more pleasant. Alcohol was more apparent in the bottled version. Remove 0.4 for the bottle. With its smooth taste and well hidden alcohol the cask version may indeed be responsible for cracking heads and crashing cars.

The pour reveals a cloudy orange color with floaties and a thin white head. Aroma and flavor of fruits and sweetness, which is isn’t bad, but where it’s problematic is that the beer feels really flat and it ruins the experience.

Cloudy yellow honey hue, with a big fluffy white head, but falling quickly, yeasty nose, ripe apples note, sweet pale malt, honeyish accent, caramel, hints of spicy cinnamon, brown sugar, with a citrusy note in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a yeasty sweet honeyish pale malt character, with a caramelized ripe apples accent, hint of cinnamon spiciness, leading towards a sweet caramelized malt, and ripe apples, and candied orange peels fruitiness, and faint hops bitterness finish.