Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Barley Wine
Piozzo, Italy

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: FEB 9, 2009 2005 vintage, sampled 2009
Vibrant golden-burgundy with some haze particles. Flat. No head. Doesn’t look bad, though. Deep caramel with some brown sugars, but also some cardboard. It’s got fruity notes, but also olive and a hint of chocolate. Very sweet, brown sugary, with lots of fruity complexity. Rich. So rich in fact it takes on a mead or sherry quality. Really cool stuff.

Original rating, 2005
Pours still. Oily looking. Bright copper colour, with legs. The aroma is richly malty, vinous and alcoholic. I’m surprised at the abv being so low, because in appearance and aroma this is a much bigger beer, in the utopian league wherein the product of barley and hop has moved beyond beer into a totally different form of beverage. The flavour confirms this - soft, sweet, and very decadent. Brown sugar maltiness and light esters keep the beer rounded. The body is exquisite - a sticky dessert that glides down your throat. This goes beyond barley wine to a happy place. 7-3-8-4-16 = 3.8

Bready, thick malts in the very fruity and strongly alcoholic, vinous aroma. Clear pale amber coloured body is topped by a low tan head that lasts throughout and coats the sides of the glass. Bready malts open up the flavour chased immediately by strong vinous fruitiness, some spicy, herbal, woody flavours, vanilla and almost sherry-like sweet alcohol. Medium body with a satisfying, full mouthfeel and decent carbonation. A masterpiece! Bottle sampled at the White Horse on Parson’s Green in London during GBBF 2005.