 JF_GRIND (1205), Glenside, Pennsylvania, USA
Feb 12, 2004
Impressive Barley Wine from AleSmith. Extremely complex, yet smooth flavor. Perfect blend of malts and hop finish. I believe the bottle I sampled from at RB Philly Gathering was 2002 vintage. Hands down the best bottle of beer with a foil top I ever had.
JMFG (1086), Florida, USA
Aug 17, 2008 Sampled @ Alesmith, RBSG. Kind of absurd that I had BA Numbskull (twice) already and didn’t try regular Numbskull until @ Alesmith, but whatever. Clear dark amber color, moderately thick tan head. Alcohol, hops, and spicy malts in well balanced proportions on the nose. Robust hops, spicy malts on the taste, lingering hop and heat finish. Another barleywine right up my alley.
derekbang (100), Indiana, USA
Aug 15, 2008 Good barley wine. Not much head and poured and amber color. Aroma was hops and citrus - similar flavor. Alcohol was definitely distinct - probably would be better after aging a year or so, because it was a tad "hot".
enginaaron (58), San Diego, California, USA
Aug 12, 2008 On tap tasting at AleSmith. Pours copper/amber with tan head. Very clear. Slight alcohol in aroma with some yeast. Very smooth with alcohol at the end. Nice maltiness with a sort of rich fruity or pear flavor. Overall good, but barrel aged would be much better, as is the case with barley wines.
rustychiles (417), Mesa, Arizona, USA
Aug 11, 2008 Bottle, had this several times and wish my notes were better this last time around.
Pours a dark brownish red with a small white head. Aroma of hops, malt, brown sugar, caramel, dark fruits. Flavor is caramel, hops, a huge malt backbone, dark fruits. Damn fine barleywine. One of my favorites.
Crockett (902), Steelback County, Ontario, Canada
Aug 11, 2008 Tastings of 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004 with Mr Kimchee. As well as a separate barrel aged version. The 1999 held up very well and was very lively. Pours a ruddy thick liquid with a short tan head. Decent amount of floaters coloured from whiteish to dark brown. Big old malted barley nose with lots of brown sugar, toast, hot alcohol, ripe fruit and citrus notes. Very sweet, some hops wander in but seem to do very little in rounding the beer (in varying degrees/vintages). The 1999 had melded in to one big flavour whereas the ’00 and 02 where still working on it. The youngest in the vertical was very sweet and probably had a little too early. Lots of toffee, butterscotch, and peaty flavours throughout. Hops come out and finish with a good dose of booze. I had some of this at RBSG ’05 and it did benefit from the increased aging, although there was a little bit of oxidization. It’s a lovely big beer and to be honest it was hard to be in the mood for it mid-August.
Thanks Jesse!
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