Blue Point Old Howling Bastard

Brewed by Blue Point Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Patchogue, New York USA

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: DEC 12, 2005 Original Rating (8-3-6-3-14=3.4): Strong raisin, plum aroma with hints of alcohol and bread-like yeast. Deep caramel brown with off-white, shy head that recedes to ring. Roastiness, sweet malts and fruity esters combine to give a charred dark fruit flavour. Alcohol is very apparent. Lasting roastiness in the finish. Bottle (sampled at Mondial 2004).
Rerate (6-3-6-3-12=3.0): Brown sugar and maple chocolate in the sweet, syruppy aroma. Hazy burnished copper coloured body is topped with a low white head that recedes to lasting cover with some minor lacing. Strong dark malt bitterness almost overwhelms the pearlike fruitiness and notes of chocolate in the flavour. Dry medium body with pointy carbonation. Bottle (2003 vintage) sampled at DenverLogan’s GABF 2005 wrap-up.

Amber body with off-white head. Intense aroma of malty sweet flavors that are not too well blended (honey, maple). Sweet smokey and light hops are hidden behind the massive malty alcohol. Very sweet palate, alcoholic and moderately astringent. Poorly balanced. A smooth medium body keeps it from being a waste. A poorman’s barleywine... that is very expensive..

Forceful alcohol easily carrying a green hoppy burden through feeble malt currents...That agressive heat is omnipresent, burning especially on the sides of the tongue and attempts to scrape away whatever pleasure is left from the tastebuds...Resinous hoppiness lingers harshly, toppling the nascent caramel sweetness...This bottle needed to be laid down a few years...

Another barleywine that came off a little too sweet for me. Nose was sweet and alcoholic, and a bit tobacco-like. Strong alcohol was warming, but the middle was way too sweet. Dryness, from the alcohol and some nice hops saved the overall ratings...it was fun to drink! The $9 per bottle price was a bit pricey, even more than the Southampton and several others. The artwork was cool, though!

Sampled at The Brazen Head, Brooklyn, NY courtesy of cask pulled. Be prepard. As my bro-in-law is fond of saying; you can chew on it. Stronger alcoholic aroma blended well with a mix of subtle spiced herbs, some sweetness and a complex full body. Have one and share some. A very fine barley wine.

On tap at lighthouse tavern , poured an opaque brown/orange with tints of yellos at top. The aroma was strong what I’m going to call "barley" and minimal hoppy. Taste was slight alcohol with some nut and minor raisin which then went into caramel and sweet raisin, finishing with caramel. The hops mask the alcohol very well as I generally don’t like the stronger alcohol tastes in my beer.

UPDATED: MAY 3, 2004 2004 Edition. Nice copper color with a minimal head that I find consistant in most barleywines I taste. On tap, it is very consistant and flavorful. Lucky me! Rich bodied, fuiity aroma that also reeks of alcohol. Taste is oh so smooth with an excellent balance and a real kick in the ass.

On cask at David Copperfield's in NYC... Lightly hazy, copper/burnt orange ale. Very fruity, malty aroma. Apples, honey, butterscotch, golden raisins. The flavor is also fruity. Red apple and alcohol. Bittered well-enough for balance. Full-bodied with an oily mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Lengthy, alcoholic, bitter finish. Good stuff!

Cask. Cloudy and murky, orangish. apple aroma, with alcohol. Tastes like dead fish and alcohol. Almost the burn of a liquor shot.

UPDATED: MAR 26, 2005 Very hoppy nose. Tasted kind of funny. Applely. Little off.Cask conditioned. Funky tasting. Big Alcohol burn to it. Interesting. It needs to age. I had it on tap at Blind tiger and it was the same. Appley. Big alcohol burn to it.