4.3 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
Sampled at the ’12 GABBF. This beer has won best barley wine for two years in a row now. They were serving a keg of the 2010 vintage. Murky copper color with a thin yellowish head. Rich buttery sweet nose. Great mouthfeel with a warming alcohol sensation. Subtle whiskey barrel notes with some oak and rich dark caramel sweetness. Hop burn on the tongue. Really well balanced. Well deserving. I missed trying this beer last year and I made sure to be towards the front of the line this year.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Hazy orange, little head. Aroma of dark fruit, toffee. Taste has a nice malt body, some roast and citrus. Low carbonation, smooth texture.
4.3 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Hard Liver
Pours dark amber with little head. Candy and licorice, vanilla and caramel, maybe a bit of toffee. Very sweet smell. Taste is like the smell; lots of vanilla up front, malt, oak, and almost marshmallow comes up after. Bit of booze on the end. Good carbonation, medium to full bodied. Damned good barley wine.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
On tap for Hard Liver ’12, pours a cloudy orange amber with a small head. Aroma of toffee, liqueur-covered fruits, candied sugar and booze. Flavour of booze, brandy-like liqueur, caramel malts and toffee. Full-bodied, complex and well-balanced. Very solid.
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Good Barleywine. 2010 vintage. Light rust/amber color. The nose is filled with allspice and cinnamon. Full bodied with brandy/cognac flavors. This needs more time to come together.
4.4 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
On tap at Hard Liver Fest (2011). Colour... deep, golden-orange with no head. Nose... like fresh hops crushed with nuggets of turbinado! Palate... wow! Hop shot!! Tart mouth feel yet thick and cloying with lychee, sugar sirop, quince, Anjou pear, and dried peach, date extract and a bitter-dry finish. What a treat!
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Great Alaska Beer And Barleywine Fest 2011. Foggy amber color/ fleeting head. Mild to medium strength vanilla, pit fruit, whiskey, wood aromas. medium bodied. Sharp pit fruit flavors with whiskey, toffee, mild molasses, bitter twang to finish.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Winter Brewers Festival 2010 – Seattle, WA
Brown in color, clear with a thin head. Loved the aroma. Very spicy with fruit like aromas. Malty and fruit flavors. Light with spice this was a tasty Barley wine. There was a pepper flavor and finish. The heat of the alcohol was warming and once this beer warmed up more aroma was coming out.
2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
On cask. Super sweet nose, tons of residual sugars, cloying, crystal malt, caramel, toffee, fruity notes, more sugar, alcohol. Still dark amber pour, no head, lace. Flavor is cloying and sweet, tons of sugars, almost like not fully fermented out, earthy hop, black peppery alcohol, more sugars. Syrupy body, hard to drink.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Draft at Hard Liver 2010. Pours a clear dark brown with a amber hue and small yet tight and even slightly dirty white head. Lots of sweetness on the nose from crystal malt...brown sugar, candied plums, caramel, touch of raisin, warming booziness. Somewhat syrupy feel with dense small carbonation. Very sweet with dark dried fruit...raisins, prune, dried figs...with plenty of carameled sugars. Has some warmth on the way down as well. Very well made and wish that is was in a bottle so that I could revisit with some age/oxidation.
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