OHanlons Thomas Hardys Ale (vintage 2003 and later)

Brewed by OHanlons
Style: Barley Wine
Whimple, England

6th August 2008. A 2008 vintage. Rich delicious malt. Some porty and brandy tones. Sumptuos. Liked this young version much much more than all the older vintages I’ve tasted which seem to be marmite bombs regardless of which year or even decade they come from!

Bottle. Pours an amber brune with a thin off white head. Huge fruity esters, plums, dates, fig notes, and cherry pits. Etoh has a strong influence warming the esters with some light spices. Caramel, light spice, licorice, and light maple. Would probably do really well with age. I need to rerate this but with an aged bottle.

VINTAGE 2008 Bottle #16513 Nice copper colored liquid with an amber tint. Less than a finger of loose white foam make the head, which dissipates fairly quickly. Lacing is spotty, but sticky and clump-like. Huge maltiness. Big notes of caramel and brown sugar, with a slight hint of butterscotch. Big notes of raisins, plums, figs and other dark fruits. Light earthy presence. It’s not even trying to hide the booze. This smells extremely rich and complex. That is truly different than I expected. First, it doesn’t taste like any Old Ale that I’ve had before. Second, it is not nearly as sweet and cloying as I expected from the nose. This has a big malty presence. There is also a big presence of ripe dark fruits. The sweetness that is here is undercut by the warmth of alcohol, and a slight hops balance. Nice hints of caramel. I don’t have the words to explain why this is so different from other Old Ales, but it certainly is. Solid medium body. Light creaminess. I expected much more body than this one has. At this point, I find this to be quite drinkable. I can’t wait to see what it does in 5, 10, 15 years, or more.

Bottled, 2005. Dark amber in colour. Nose of caramell, tastes of bread, banana and soy sause. A lovely Ale.

2008 Vintage... thanks to moejuck for the bottle! The aroma on this is really neat, I got some caramel candy, some apple, and just all around sweetness. Flavor was a bit too astringent for me, I just couldn’t warm up to this.

Bottle, vintage 2005 No. 06013 Deep redish brown like Cola in colour. Smell of soy sauce, marmite. Taste of Malted bread with raisins (vörtbröd), rhum, fudge. Very sweet more like a ”port wine”

bottle - T 02416 - pours dark amber with practically no head. The aroma is of caramel, leather walnut, and port wine. The taste reminds me of Italian "Nocino" liqueur, very walnutty, chocolate, with a hint of prunes and marsala wine. Too much like a desert wine for my tastes, also a bit too bitter for me. I can appreciate the quality of the brew though.

04 Bottle. Poured murky brown red. Nose is figs, prunes, booze, marachino cherries, sweet caramel, yeast, plums. Flavor is sweet sweet fruit esthers, yeast, sweet bready notes, cherry, plum, raisin, grapes and cane sugar. Always a treat!