Left Hand Oak Aged Widdershins

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Longmont, Colorado USA

Pours clear copper, with a one-finger beige head, very good clinging lacing. Grassy and woody aroma, with raisins, toast, vanilla, and brandy. Medium-full body, smooth, zesty, crisp, lightly dry. Medium sweetness up front, grass, earth, and floral flavors, with biscuit, grape, butter, grapefruit notes, warming. Some milt tartness kicks in midpalate, lasting mild bitter finish, with more floral notes. Delicate and grassy.

had this on tap this past weekend at the Great Alaskan Beer and Barley Wine Festival in Anchorage, AK. Colour... gold-peach with no head. Nose... sweetly hoppy with toffee. Palate... dry, sappy, hoppy, oak, dried orchard fruits, dates and a medium length finish.

Pours a clear pale amber along with a light tan head that is thick and coats the glass. Not meant to sound off-putting, but the aroma is wet rags and peat. Taste is fairly sweet - - bubble gum. Kinda smokey but in a fake bottled smoke way. This ale looks much better than it tastes. It’s not bad, it’s just not good. Maybe previous editions of this barleywine were better, judging from earlier ratings.

Bottle sample at the Barley Wine beer tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 1/14/10. Pours clear amber with a medium tan head. Caramel and grainy malt nose with some fruit and a bit of solventy character. Flavor is smoked malt that I somehow missed in the nose (probably due to the solventy character) along with some caramel and booze.

Sample at the Barley Wine beer tasting at Blacklick Wine & Spirits on 01/14/10. 2009 bottle. This brew pours dark brown with a medium thick and fluffy beige head that diminishes slowly. Small patches of lacing. Smoked malt aroma with notes of oak and butter. Medium, dry body with flavors of smoked meat, toasted bread, butterscotch and bitter hops. The finish is smoky malt with a lingering smoke aftertaste. Overall this beer was difficult to enjoy since it seems to be all over the place.

Pours a cloudy amber with a nice soft head. Aroma is of resing, vanilla and floral hops. Taste is of yeast, pine, resin and butterscotch. Somewhat light for a barleywine, but pretty complex. Well put together.

2009 bomber, fairly fresh. Pours a clear, dark, reddish amber color. A thick, frothy head of light khaki foam settles slowly to a bubbly blanket, leaving dense, craggy walls of lacing all over the glass. The nose shows notes of toffee, toast, baked apricots, and fig jam, all of which is countered by oily orange peel hops and hints of spruce. The barrel brings in some oaky vanilla notes, but there’s also a strange, entirely unacceptible plasticy element, as faint as it might be, along with some diacetyl. Flavors are odd and jumbled. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a malty or a hoppy barleywine, and the two clash pretty bad. The caramelized, figgy fruit gets lost amidst and unexpectedly smoky, salty char note, and I again taste plastic. The palate seems thin for the style, kind of papary and dry, finishing somewhat astringent. I don’t know what Left Hand does with their barrel program, but the imperial stout had the same, strange plastic element. Get it right guys.

2004 gift bottle from deftim13. Thanks Tim! Light amber color. Some mellowed booziness. Small tongue burn. Some caramel aroma, but dry taste. Pretty decent.