J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagavulin)

Brewed by J.W. Lees
Style: Barley Wine
Middleton Junction, England

Bottle. Pours a deep orange toned body with a thin off white head. Malty sweet with vinous etoh tones sweet sherry and whiskey tones with a modest warming. Some light oxidation notes with a mild apple and pear toned esters. Malty caramel sweetness light vanilla a mild peat and smoked tone with a modest warming. Very nice.

Bottle 9.3fl.oz. @ home.
[ Trade by GAManiac ]. Light unclear medium to dark amber orange color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, fully diminishing, white to off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, wood, moderate to light heavy prune and date, moderate alcohol - whisky. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily and sticky, carbonation is flat. [20091202]

9.3 ounce bottle, brewed in 2006. Served in a snifter, the beer pours a cloudy orange/brown color with some floaties and pretty much no head at all. Not much lacing either. I like the aroma of this beer a lot, it smells like smoke, peat, band-aids, raisins, and brown sugar. The taste is similar to the aroma. It tastes like brown sugar, smoke, peat, raisins and figs. Very nice Scotch Whisky scents and tastes in this brew. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it’s a bit slick and rich but also seems a little bit thin to me at times too. Drinkability is pretty good, it’s smooth and pretty easy to drink. I like this brew a lot, and I’d definitely buy this again. Of course it helps I like smoky Scotch Whisky too.

2004 bottle. Pours a deep dark amber-brown with an off-white ring. Rich aroma, of smoke, wood, meat, malt, dark fruits, and whisky. Taste is sweet and smoky, of malt, wood, meat, and sugar. Hides the alcohol well. Lingering smoky meat and sweet dark fruits. Wonderful.

By far the most complex of the different barrel aged versions of this beer I’ve had. Smoke really cuts and complicates the already sweet and complex flavor of the standard. Tons of charred fruit , tar, huge Islay presence. Crazy. v.2008

2003 Vintage. 275 ml bottle. Pours a mostly clear orange-brown with virtually no head save a few scattered large bubbles that popped within seconds. Very pleasant aroma of caramel, orange, and scotch whiskey. The flavor is loaded with lots of rich caramel, orange, scotch whiskey, smokey peat, and oak. Rich and lustrous on the palate. This is a wonderful sipping beer and I thoroughly enjoyed the hour and a half I spent relaxing with this bottle on Christmas Eve.

Vintage 2005. Shared with the family for the annual ’fireside barleywine quaff session’. Thanks for grabbing and sharing this one dad. Dark orange-mahogany pour with a minimal white head and some residual floaties in the bottom of the snifter. The aroma of whiskey barrel emanates in the room even before the first aromatic delves. The nose presents in the form of tawny port, whiskey, and a humongous caramel-toffee character. Fresh grapes, vanilla, booze, and wood further add to the subtleties, though its all about plum-grape dark fruit and brown sugar-caramel dark sugars. The first quaffs yield caramel, vinous sweetness, medjool dates thoroughly smoked peat, whiskey, and touches of nectar fruit in the form of apricot, pineapple, and peach. Explosive flavors of dark-sugar sweetness with an astonishingly well placed oaken earthy peatiness prevail to strengthen the whole arrangement. Complexities are subtle, though as with all the Harvest Ale’s I’ve had, this one is all about the malt sweetness. Hop profile is minimal to non-existent, demonstrating the epitome of the English style. Nearly flawlessly crafted. Palate is rich, full, smooth textured, and smacking, finishing clean, tannic, oaken and pleasantly slippery. Another masterpiece from J.W. Lees, and a true family sipper. Perhaps its the ambiance that warrants such a high rating, but there you have it. Life is good.

Thanks Chibbyman. 2008 vintage. Brown pour with very little head. Sampled a cellar temp. The aroma was whisky and a little sweetness. This beers flavor really did explode all at once. Sweetness, whisky, oak, vanilla, smoke. Alcohol was hidden. Very tasty but I would find it hard to finish a whole bottle by myself.