Baladin Xyauyù Etichetta Rame (Copper Label)

Brewed by Le Baladin
Style: Barley Wine
Piozzo, Italy

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle 500ml. [ Vintage 2005 ].
Clear medium orange amber color with a small, fizzy, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, berry, raisin, plum, wood, alcohol. Flavor is heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is syrupy - oily, carbonation is flat flat, finish feel is moderate to light heavy alcohlic. [20090321]

[I also tasted this some time before official release, namely at GBBF August 2005, courtesy of Lorenzo. Thanks a bunch.] A pale brown beer with no head, but it lazes the glass just like a sherry. The aroma is very sweet with notes of prunes and wood. The flavor is sweet, but at the same time slightly sour, somewhat like a Flemmish Sour Ale, combined with notes of lots of wood and lots of prunes and grapes, but also a slight alcohol burn. The mouthfeel is thick like syrup. WOW - I want to get hold of this when it is released.

Bottled (2nd CS/ES Beer Gathering, thanks SV!). Slightly hazy reddish amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is alcohol, some madeira wine like notes along with wooden and vanillaish notes. Flavour is sweet malts, vanilla, mild spicyness, madeiralike, spicy and also has quite much alcohol filling it up. Yet very balanced.

Bottled. Deep copper colour, viscous with no head. Intense cognac aroma. Sweet and soft with lots of molasses. Thick and mouthcoating oily, hugely malty with raisins and cognac. Velvetty and pleasant with mild warming alcohol. A huge beer.

2005 bottle, 4 years old. Gold print, 13.5%. Vinous aroma, sweet, but with some roughness to it. Almost clear dark amber colour. The flavour starts off a little sweet. Has some cookie sweetness, a little spice. The finish has a vinous bitterness. As from grape peel. The flavour is also vinous, port-like. Syrupy mouthfeel. A little alcohol burn in the finish. Interesting, but not something I enjoy immensely.

Name: Xyauyu
Date: 10/14/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Vintage: 2004

clear dark copper, headless, flows down the side of the glass in sheets of viscous liquid, big sweet dark caramel aroma with lots of fruity character and some alcohol fumes that fade over time, thick body, rich malt flavor, touch of brown sugar, maple and moleasses add to the sweetness, touch of fruity character, warming, alcohol is well hidden behind the sweetness,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 9/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

UPDATED: AUG 22, 2010
2010-08-21, vintage 2005, 8-4-8-4-17=41
The Xyauyù Ultimate Tasting
http://tinyurl.com/xyauyu1
Hazy dark amber color, lighter than the Silver and Gold; flat. Caramel aroma, sweet, oxidized, with light vanilla, less fruity than the silver, with more alcohol; it reminds me some accomplished French or Polish Mead. Very sweet malt juice; the alcohol seems more evident than in others, but it complements well the sweetness; there is a good trace of raisins. The final is more nutty. Excellent, solid as the Silver, but more vibrant.

2006-02-04, I had a taste of this at the Birratrovo in Como, 7-3-7-3-15=35
Amber colour, still. Strong aroma and taste, thick and oily; caramel and mature malt (Madeira), wood influence, Porto wine. Interesting.

Bottle @ Open Baladin, Rome. Pours unclear golden with no head. Nose is rich and vinous. Port and dark fruit. Extremely vinous and delicious. Dark fruit, port and oak. Low carbonation. Tannins. Some warmth. Complex and better than the silver for sure.

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

(500ml "copper" bottle, 2004 vintage) Pours a clear amber body with a spare off-white head. Aroma of apple, butterscotch, honey, florals, and brandy. Flavor of apple, caramel, raisins, toffee, alcohol, port, and butterscotch.