Ballards Birthday Boy

Formerly brewed at Ballards
Style: Barley Wine
Petersfield, England

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle from Utobeer. Hazy copper with almost no head. Sharp fruity aroma, a bit sour, some spices as well. Sour fruit, caramel, spices flavours. Rich, full body. Quite nice.

275ml bottle (Utobeer, London)
6 Sweet old strong malty aroma, touches of wood, nuts, yeast, must.
3 Rich copper, carefully poured clear, totally flat.
6 Slightly yeasty retronasals, a little musty. Sweetish malts and some pencil sharpenings for bitterness. Anna liked the bitter aspects. I thought there was even some soapiness later.
3 Slightly sharp acidic bite initially, went well with the idea of it being an strong old ale. Palate is a bit slick, and there’s no carbonation at all. Finish is just on the marmitey side of yeasty.
12 The slight sourness is one of the more endearing features, giving some gravitas and bite to what’s otherwise a rather stodgy sweet malt-bomb. If I were to have a bottle of Thomas Hardy dangled in front of me, I’d be torn between necking this and ’accidentally’ knocking the glass over. Anna thought it was closer to 3.4, but she should get her own account.

Bottled. An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of sour fruits, malt, caramel, and vinegar. The falvor is sweet with notes of wood, over ripe fruits, lacto bassilicus, malt, and caramel, leading to a dry acidic and fruity finish. Odd. Thanks Papsoe for sharing.

27.5 cL bottle, courtesy of Papsoe. Pours cloudy orange with a small white head. Aroma is yeasty, phenolic and slight cherry fruity. Sweet fruity, slight acidic. Rather fruity and phenolic. Acidic finish with a lasting fruity note into the finish.

Bottle 33 cl. Courtesy of madmitch76. Pours an almost clear deep amber with a small off-white head. Aroma has overripe fruits and a distinct tartness. Solid body, almost flat, dominated by a distinct sourness like in rottening fruits. Some Sherry notes. Warming alcohol in the finish. Quite bad really. 230310

Bottle 275ml. @ chriso - Night of the Gaylords.
Clear medium amber color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, fruity, moderate yeasty, lacto, cheese notes. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20091229]

Bottled@The Chriso Gaylord Tasting. Amber colour, small head. Aroma is slightly sour fruits, some notes of sweet malts as well as alcohol and hops. Flavour is caramel, fruits, nectar and some mild notes of yeast and mild grassyness in finish as well.

Bottle at Chriso Gaylord tasting 09. Orange brown colour. Sour strong ale. Better than the normal annual specials, but not by much.

Cask - White Cliffs Beer Festival 2009. Dark and hazy amber with the finest head possible. Syrup and honey aromas with some dark fruits. Almost like chugging back a bag of demerara with the amount of sweetness. A sweet, sweet syrupy body and a cloying mouthfeel. Was that a tooth I just swallowed? Not bad in halves though.

A Mes rate. Bottle at home thanks to Tom.
Murky amber brown, no head what so ever. Very cheesy aroma. Lots of thick malt. Rich and tangy but not that great. Flavour is similar but far too harshly sweet and sour. Finish lasts much too long unfortunately. Not great at all. Hope they had a good birthday though. I’m sure if they drank enough of this it got suitably messy.