Adnams Tally-Ho

Brewed by Adnams
Style: Barley Wine
Southwold, England

Serve in Snifter

First tasted this barley wine at the winter ale festival held in Glasgow in February 1997. Cask and gravity dispense. Ruby black with an open buff head which rapidly disappeared leaving no lacing. Strong, intense aroma of damsons and berry fruit. Rich powerful mouthfeel. Dark malt complex gives a full range of flavours with fruit to the fore. Hedgerow berries, plums, black grapes, overipe cherries and a hint of dark chocolate. Very slight prickle of hops in the aftertaste which fades fast as sweetness returns with an alcoholic warmth in the slightly dry vineous oak finish. Excellent example of an English barley wine at its very best. Highly recommended.

Cask at NWAF, 2011. Dark reddish-brown pour. Vinous nose. Prunes, dates and fig aromas. A little cognac in there too. Rum like flavours with raisins, molasses and dark chocolate. Deep, warming finish.

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.

Cocoa and tea body with an ok head. English. Flat cola, prunes and brown sugar in the flavor. Ther's very little hops in the flavor or aroma. It's mellow with a lingering sweetness.

UPDATED: JAN 10, 2009 A Mes rate. Gravicask 2008 version from the Bree Louise. Adnams seem to be doing a lot right these days and this latest version of Tally Ho is really the cream of the crop. Very dark mahogany, no head. Fantastic colour though. Full on rich barley wine. Tonnes of burnt sugar, roasted barley, incredible creme brûlée character all round and a beautiful lick of warming alcohol. Really drinkable considering the strength and luscious busomy body. Massively good beer.

Bottle from Beers of Europe at some ridiculously cheap price like £1.51 or similar. Consumed 25.09.10 Pours dark brown with a light beige head, looks glorious. Nicely bitter with toffee and dark demerara sugars showing mostly. Nice warmth coming through and dark toffeeness again showing. Top stuff, fed up of rating just want to drink it now. A7 A5 T8 P4 Ov16 4.0

A dark brown coloured beer with reddish tints in the light, but no head. A distinct toasted malt nose with burnt sugar, liquorice, treacle and a touch of smoke. The taste is bitter sweet, toasted malt, winey, sherry-like, plus liquorice. woody and a touch grassy. The finish is bitter sweet but smooth. (Cask - Easter Beer Festival @ The Fox & Hounds, Heacham, Norfolk).

cask pbf’05 Very nice Christmas beer. Did drink it in the summer... at the Peterborough Beer Festival. Sweet beer, but nice balance with dark fruits and malts. Also clearly alcohol present. I would realy like to have some of this beer in a cask during Christmass!