Adnams Tally-Ho

Brewed by Adnams
Style: Barley Wine
Southwold, England

Serve in Snifter

330 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Bottle conditioned, ABV is 7.2%. Mahogany coloured beer, big beige head. Vinous aroma, notes of raisins and other dark dried fruits, also hints of caramel. The flavour is fairly malty and moderately sweet (but not as sweet as I expected), with hints of dark dried fruits and caramel again, while the finish is biscuity dry with noticeable hops. Fairly bitter aftertaste.

Bottle. A - Dark brown with a cola-like appearance with a lighter tawny chestnut brown hue on the edges. Smaller than average bubbly beige head. Disappears fast leaving just a batch of lacing in the middle. S - Very dark aromas. Dark rum soaked fruit provides for a lot of the aroma. Also quite prominent are toasted dark malt (hints of chocolate) and toasted caramel and molasses. Quite sweet and just a very slight hint of tartness. T - Similar to the nose. Up front is plenty of rum soaked dark fruit (particularly raisin, fig, and date). In the background is a good dark malt base. Toasted caramel and molasses and faint toasted bread and chocolate taste. It is somewhat sweet and has a hint of tartness. Mid sip, the malt flavors come out a bit more, but the fruit flavors are still more prominent. Toward the finish, the malt flavor fad and give way to a bit of an earthy and hoppy taste. Finishes with these flavors mixing with the dark fruits in a sweet, tart, and slightly bitter taste. Alcohol has a slight presence throughout M - On the lighter side of a full bodied beer with low carbonation (but adequate for the style). Smooth and creamy with just a touch of a drying feel. D - Pretty drinkable beer. Well balanced and pretty smooth. Just a faint hop taste adds some depth with the dark fruit and malt. Nice sipping beer. Notes: I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Adnams is a solid brewery. Fortunately this is also a solid beer. Good malt and dark fruit presences making up the majority of the flavors. Nice hint of earthy hops toward the end. Well balanced and pretty strong especially considering it is a 7% ABV barleywine. Worth trying, definitely does have a bit of an English feel.

A pretty good barley wine style beer. Would like to a taste an older vintage one and I should have laid this one down perhaps. Sweet spicy aroma with hints of raisin and biscuit. The colour is dark ruby red with a head that goes fairly quickly an medium lacing. The palate is fairly medium with a grape mouthfeel. Finish is quite short and simple. Overall taste is an enjoyable sweet slightly malty and spicy, and the kick of the 7.2% definitely filters through.

0.33 l bottle at Vihreä Haltiatar, Jyväskylä. Bright dark reddish brown color. The aromas of toffee, nuts, dark caramel and raisins. Malty toffeish flavor with dark caramel, chocolate, raisins and nuts. Dark sugar and bitterness in finish. Fairly carbonated and somewhat sharp palate, I would like to have this smoother.

Cask@White Horse, Parsons Green, London. Very deep amber colour, close to black. Mediumsized brown head. Aroma is nuts, chocolate, burnt sugar as well as some liquorice. Flavour is much the same but also has some very ashy notes to it. Pleasant balance.

UPDATED: JAN 25, 2011 A good full bodied winter warmer by Adnams. Spicey; sweet, hoppy and malty. A good balance. Could do with a bit more IBU but not too much. I enjoyed the spices and the roasted malts a good compliment. It is a nice compelling barley wine. Very English in style not like the notable Belgian barley-wines. I enjoyed this. Got to love a good barely wine with good company at a winter ale festival. It just has to be done! Good stuff. Re-Rate, the Plough, Chelmsford - 25th January 2010 Appearance is white-lacing and a dark brown body which is opaque and red. Aroma is bread, hey, floral hops. Taste is toffee, nuts, caramel, liquorish, heart warming and interesting. Barely is there too. 7-4-8-4

Cask at the Bree Louise, Euston, London. Black pour with a decent beige head. Aroma of dark fruit/sweetness. Tastes sweet, malty, heavyish barleywine. Very pleasant and warming old English ale.

Gravity cask in a fair few places since I was a teenager in the late 70s. Nowdays seems far too sweet and cloying to me. Plenty of warming alcohol but nowhere near enough hops. My latest sample was at the Wenlock and despite lenghthy maturation it was still pretty sickly. Not the beer of yesteryear.