BridgePort Old Knucklehead

Brewed by BridgePort Brewing (Gambrinus Company)
Style: Barley Wine
Portland, Oregon USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottled, orange amber pour with cottony off white foam, aroma of oak, brown sugar and peach, flavor is brown sugar, malty caramel, whiskey notes, nice

2003 bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark amber. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted light bread, caramel, cookie), lightly hoppy (flowers), with notes of orange peel, toffee, peach, light note of alcohol. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, heavily bitter. Medium to full body, watery (almost syrupy) texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. One of the bitterest barleywines I've had (though not quite as extreme as renditions like Old Crustacean), and a little too acidic for me, but the aroma is surprisingly pleasant thanks to more emphasis on malt than hops.

In short: A sweet syrupy and very fruity American Strong ale of some kind. Unsettling vinous/grape fruity character.
How: Bottle 12oz, about 1 year of age.
The look: Dark cloudy amber body topped by a small beige head
In long: Nose is unexpectedly vinous with notes of cherries, pomegranates and other fruity flavours I don’t want in an American Barley Wine. Taste is sweet, very sweet and fruity. Again a weird fruity character here. Sweet cranberry juice, sweet figs, sweet grapes, that type of stuff. Way too sweet. A little unpleasant grapes sourness. Syrupy body/mouthfeel. I didn’t like it. Weird peculiar beer that just didn’t feel right. As strangely put together as someone needing a hearing aid because of a plantar wart.

04 on tap at the brewery - amber brown with chocolate and prune aroma and some light woodiness. pleasant if a bit too sweet. 03 version bottled - very sweet and syruppy. golden syrup and treacle with some pine and red grape

Bottle. Pours an amber body with an off white head. Rich and chewy with some fruity esters, caramel, sweet and malty with a hint of woodiness. Decent brew.

UPDATED: JUN 14, 2004 Bottle- 2003 Vintage (score=2.3). Mega syruppy sweet barlewine. Boot polish aroma, heaps of fruitcake, raisin and figs, very cloying. 2004 vintage on tap@Bridgeport (score=3.5): Sweet caramel and raisin, sweet, but this tap 2004 version was better balanced than the 2003 from the bottle. Re-rate: Bottle- vintage 1997. Really sweet raisiny as usual, but this has developed a toasted character, which is quite nice, kind of like raisin toast, mellowed a bit it and less sweet than when young 3.7 (my score is a rough average of the 3.

Lightly sweet hops apparent, not very complex but nice dark fruit is there. Filtered amber/ruby color with excellent head and lacing. Flavor is slightly watery, casked mild. Sweet bitter and metallic finish. An overall average barleywine, if you can consider the style average.

courtesy of fishingnet. pours orange, off white head. Aroma picked up some bourbon like aroma, malt, caramel, sugar and spices. Taste, some bourbon, vanilla, caramel malts coupled with some citrus hops and a faint wood presence.Some fine tasting beer.

12-oz. #10--this is a ’99 bottling tasted in 08. Still has a gasp under the cap, good sign. Still pours up a big head, good sign. Pours deep murky dark brown with ruby highlights. Thick, creamy tan head and lots of sudsy lace. Huge nose of toffee, fresh-cut hardwood, apples, caramel, and rubbing alcohol. Medium, slightly creamy body. Still got a bit of carb spritzing around in the farther corners here and there. Apples, caramel, toffee, woodiness, tobacco, leather--all those delectable aged BW notes are here. Unfortunately, they brought over their unpleasant neighbor, a fumigant, harsh rubbing alcohol note that gets worse and worse from the attack through the finish. Super dry alcohol finish. This is a hot and bothered beer even at 9 years of age. All the yummy flavors together are so enticing, but then that burning twang comes in...it’s like hanging out with the most beautiful woman you’ve met in a while and then watching her pee her pants.

Dark amber color, medium head. Richly malted and intensely hoppy, Well aged and barley wine style ale. This is the 1999 version, tasted in May 2001; aging has not harmed this beer. Complex subtle flavors, mix of malt and hops nearly resinous in taste. Aging has done some interesting things with the malt sugars in this beer; there are many layers of taste and interaction. Mouthfeel is full and round. Very smooth. Finish is crisp. Aftertaste is hoppy and malty, a little bitter. No noticeable alcohol bite, despite the 9.1% alcohol. Very nice beer.