Berkshire Holidale

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Snifter

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22 oz bottle. From Ryan and Casey’s, Greenfield, MA. 2011 vintage. The first glass had real nice clarity. Slow steady carbonation producing a thin layer of white head that had decent lace. Smell is light hops, light fruit and toffee. A bit thin in body almost watery. Flavor mirrors the nose. Overall I sit here and sip this and my overall thought are… this brew is very under-whelming. At least the ABV is masked after a year of sitting.

eh.. I enjoy myself some barleywine, especially on the sweeter side of things, but this one failed to materialize for me. Was more like a cross between a DIPA and a barleywine, but somehow it also felt watered down. That being said, given the price point is much lower than similar BWs, this is a pretty good value. 2012 vintage.

2012 bottle. Pours a clear dark golden, slightly amber color with a thick white head. Aroma is of hops, grass, grain, bread, and a little booze. Slightly over carbonated than I was expecting. Flavors include hops, pine, malts, grain, some earthiness, and pine. Leaves a dry hoppy finish.

Bottle shared by IrishBoy. Pours copper with a disappearing beige head and a fruity alcohol aroma. There is a slightly sour fruit and treacle flavor with an alcohol trail.

2008 bomber shared by IrishBoy. Pours hazy dark and ruddy with a transient head. Aroma is cola and medicinal. Med body. Flavor pretty much matches the aroma. An ale that is coming across as prematurely aged, but it’s marvelous.

Bomber from Odeed. 2008. Nose is an aging barleywine, with toffee and brown sugar. Hazy copper with a small beige head. Flavor is slightly oxidized from the thin body with some sweetness and a slight bitterness.

2009 Vintage Pours a deep reddish copper color with a good sized bubbly beige head that shows great retention. Smells of caramel and brown sugar with a hint of ethanol and a touch of oxidation. Taste is a bit on the malty side up front. Lots of sugary sweetness that gets beaten back by and earthy and a muddled buttery harshness. Long lingering sugary and butterscotch sweetness. Medium body and level of carbonation and a sweet bubbly mouthfeel. I really enjoy the coffeehouse porter from Berkshire, but most of their other beers strike me as too heavy on the diacytyl. Decent beer, but not great.

bottle from Jenray, i was intrigued by this .. . pours a muddy tan .. medium foam head, light slashes of lacing .. . figs, cherry, chocolate tar, and De Gea .. . light mouth .. . doesn’t drink like a 9.5 barleywine! .. . . Sneaking beer into work is easy. Especially when it’s already inside your stomach.

Thank you Siobhan for picking up the 2011 version of this beer. Poured from a large bottle into a trappist style glass to drink. The beer was cloudy and thick, with a dark amber color and almost no head, save a very thin, bubbly, white head without any retention and minimal cling. The aroma had some earthy and grainy hops, but featured a candy and sugar mixture, along with some spices, a bit of caramel, and some dark fruit scents. It tasted predominantly sweet with a candy flavor mixed with some sour fruit tones and a touch of grain, but very little bitterness at all. The body was pretty thin and dry without much carbonation, fizz, or liveliness. There was a distinct presence of alcohol in the taste, and it had a dry finish.

2011 six year vertical 2006-2011, christmas eve tradition. Briefs on each. 06 was the english-style, held together so much better than the last year I had it, but no where near the toffee and vanilla from 2 years ago, still solid. 07 was the heavy hopped boldly American style. Bitterness was still there, but the finish was starting to get a little thin, still enough maltiness to be decent. Both the 08 and 09 were rye based varying on hops. Both were still boozy, yet balanced enough to the point where I thought the malts shown through very well. The 2010 after 1 year was doing so well, the hops were very lively and the malts were big, but the citrus element was bright. The 11 was fantastic fresh, not as overly aggressive with hops or malt and the ABV was well controlled. Decently successful.