Berkshire Holidale

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

Serve in Snifter

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Appearance: Pours a clearish amber-brown body with a light beige-colored head. Smell: Divinely sweet-smelling, fruity aroma with notes of dried plums and cherries, tobacco leaves, cinnamon, and cookies sprinkled with sugar. Taste: Sweet caramel and candy-crammed, rum-soaked cake. So, yes, its pretty sweet. Hardly any hops in this beer beyond a little showing of citrus at the end. Finishes on the sweet side, but with some alcohol burn creeping in at the end. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Somewhat stick mouthfeel. A bit of alcohol heat showing. Drinkability: An ideal winter beer that’s rather tasty and enjoyable without solely relying on a truckload of ridiculous spices.

22 oz bomber 2006 version. Deep orange-brown colour. Almost no head to speak of. The aroma is quite sweet, toasted hazelnuts, marzipam, brown sugar, light rum and plum. Candied dates, and light syrup. Flavour is sweet and fairly straightforward, sweet apricot and plums with a touch of brown sugar. Moderate bitterness lending a touch of spice and leafy character. A lighter style of barleywine that might improve over the next year or so, but probably not much beyond that.

’06 Bottle courtesy of Thaichile, thanks Mark!! Pours a rusty color with a smallish beige colored head. Aroma is caramel malt, sweet fruits, raisins, dried cherries. Flavor is huge caramel malts, dried cherries, orange, raisins, grapefruit, brown sugar. Palate is full bodied, mild carbonation, finishes sweet and sticky. I rather enjoyed this. Thought the alcohol was well hidden, very sweet and fruity which is typical of a barleywine, but this was different some way. Great stuff, IMO much better than the 3.3.

Cloudy Dark Reddish Orange with White Ring. Sweet Lightly Syruped Malt, Fruit and Raisin Aroma. Heavy Mouthfeel. Creamy and Dry. Sweet, Musty Malt, Raisins, Bready, Fruit Notes..Dry Hopped Bitterness on the End. Smooth for the Alcohol. a Bit Raw Overall. Would Be Worth Aging a Couple Years to See How it Refines Itself.

A golden barley wine with a thin white head. A cloying vinous aroma with strong alcohol notes, rather simple. In mouth, a sweet light barley wine with grainy malt, not refined, rather boring. Tasted at "Montréal YeHA! Party 2006". Dec. 16 2006.

Well, I wouldn’t have called this a barley-wine - maybe instead an American Strong Ale. The hops blend very well with the sweetness, which is of cane sugar and honey. The hops are also very pleasantly bitter. It looks great too, a small soapy head over a mahogany body. Some banana esters in the finish, but its not the most prominent character. The aroma is strong of malts, with some chalkiness.

Medium amber pour, with a lightly fizzy body and pretty much no head - aroma of cookie dough, brown sugar, molasses, and some mild winter/christmas spices (the aroma reminds me of baking christmas cookies as a kid....a lot) - a bit of sweet maple syrup up front, followed quickly by the same qualities in the aroma, dominated mostly by brown sugar, with a slight cookie quality - mild, drying spices arrive later, along with a cleaner, lighter sweetness, like pure cane sugar - alcohol warmth crops up near the finish, adding a rum-like flavor - a little thin in the finish, making the alcohol burn a little bit more than is welcome, but otherwise this is an original and enjoyable barleywine.

UPDATED: FEB 22, 2007 Bottle. ’06 Pours a clear reddish light borwn color with hardly any head. Nose is a mix of fruit and alcohol. Flavor is golden raisins, apples macerating with turbinado sugar. This was a very enjoyable winter sipper. Sweetness and light and pretty much everything right in this barleywine.

Pours deep amber into a snifter. Tan head recedes to skim surface and hug rim. Tear lacing. Alcohol aromas. Sweet and sticky with a lasting alcohol finish.

Bottle. Pours a brown-copper body with a small white head. Pungent fruity caramel aroma with sugar and rye notes. Faint bitterness in the body with orange, sweet apricot, and raisiny flavour. Not too bad but it isn’t too memorable.