Bass No 1

Brewed by White Shield / Museum (MolsonCoors)
Style: Barley Wine
Burton-on-Trent, England

Serve in Snifter

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Holy hell WTF 1902 bottle brought by Zack, obviously a greater piece of beer history than beer at this point. Cool as all hell. Tasted like a beer that was born before my great-grandmother should. Soy sauce. Booze. Cardboard. Almost impossible to get down; I tried to finish my glass out of respect, but had to drainpour the last few drops. And yet it was one of the greatest beer experiences of my life.

Cask at the Smithfield, Derby, 18/11/1996. Ruby/black with an intense alcohol and sherry aroma with liquorice. Massive taste (too massive!) with malt, sherry (olorosso), industrial alcohol, a decent fruitiness, aged woodiness and a dry-hop character in the finish. Look, I wanted to like this, I really did, but it’s just too overpowering to drink - take 4% off the ABV and it’d be OK. Alright as a historical monument, yes, but as a beer to drink? I don’t think so.

Por alguna razon se me habia quedado sin rating pero ya resuelto. Entre las comerciales es buena

1981 bottle of "King’s Ale" purchased for 4 euro at Kulminator. Poured from about a foot above the glass, this produced a big bubbled fizzy head; more carbonation than I expected from a beer this old. Clear dark ruby accents on the edges of a semi-opaque beer in the glass. Head mostly diminishes. Decadent port smells with brown sugar, sugar cane, and sugary prunes; this smells richly sweet, everything decadent and melded together. Almost watery in texture, much has been fermented out; lighter than expected. The flavors, however, were very full and well-defined: a light golden raisin sweetness at first; honeydew melon freshness in the middle and into the finish was surprising considering the darkness of the malts on the nose; dark and acrid prune notes are a backbone but never take center stage, which is different from most barley wines I’ve had; soft, lactose and mango sweetness lingers in the finish. Alcohol warming in the belly late. Finish also has some dusty acridity on the back of the tongue which I enjoyed as a counterpoint to the surprising brightness of the body. Good beer, but not phenomenal. That being said, maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about; the other ratings on here from Kulminator bottles are much lower than mine. I thought it held up quite well over the years, as opposed to other raters. Oh well.

UPDATED: AUG 6, 2008 Magic Dave hooks it up!!! Handbottle from 5L cask. Pours a rich mahogany color, some glints of red. Aroma has notes of wood, vanilla, dried plums, some sherry notes (though very subtle). The flavor is amazing. An wood like astringency works perfectly against the sweet malts. Absolutely amazing. Thanks a ton Tom!!!

UPDATED: APR 10, 2008 Page 39 of Michael Jackson’s Great beer guide. The bottle I had and one for my cellar is called the Queen’s Ale and was an aged one brewed July 3rd 2002 on the 100th anniversary of the first one brewed. I am going to leave my assessment of this beer to one word, AMAZING. Only 178 of MJ’s Classic 500 brews to go. Also thank you Steve for this special brew and the day we had at the Museum Brewing Company.

Many thanks to Jason and to cgarvieuk for sending this over the pond. No carbonation at this point. Hazy brown appearance. Some fusels on the palate. Rich and nicely caramelized. Well balanced. Still a bit green and could stand to sit for a good year. Very well crafted and an excellent example of an English Barley wine. However, considering that this was hand-bottled - it’s not at its optimum. Very grateful to have tried this, but would’ve loved to have tasted it as it was intended.

1902 bottle graciously shared by puzzl. I can’t believe I actually got to try this stuff. Though the uncorking was a bit of an adventure to say the least, the beer poured dark brown to black with the slightest bit of carbonation evident, along with some cork flakes (no biggie). Well the aroma here was one of the more complex ones I’ve ever smelled. Over the course of drinking only about 6-8 ounces of this stuff I smelled tobacco primarily, along with chocolate and red wine. Surprisingly enough, there isn’t that much of an oxidation character evident here. Taste has more tobacco character; very sweet with just a shade of sour character as well. Palate is somewhat watery, but I guess that’ll happen with something like this. Palate feels pretty sticky afterward, which seems counterintuitive to what I just said. Overall a pretty awesome experience. Can’t thank you enough Andy for sharing this.

UPDATED: MAR 2, 2009 25cl bottle at De Kulminator, iRate: pours a red tinted dark brown with a few soap suds for a head. Big sherry aroma with cardboard and a touch of smoke. Sweet Madeira. Carmelized sugars. Wonderfully sweet. The flat brew touches the lips and releases wet newspaper, but then livens up with some sherry and port. Rusty metal ... Perhaps literally rusted metal... looking at the rusted cap. Again smoke. Quite complex but obviosly way beyond it’s years. Still very enjoyable though.

Shared by Miketd. Thanks Mike. My notes read very english tasting with english hops. Descent. Not complex but very easy to drink for 10 percent. Im glad I was given the opportunity to try this one. Thanks again Mike.