Brimstone Big Ale

Formerly brewed at Wild Goose LLC (Flying Dog)
Style: Barley Wine
Frederick, Maryland USA

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: JUL 16, 2010 Courtesy of Styles

Bottle: The aroma consists of cherry, caramel, vinegar, and sour notes. It pours a cloudy brownish-orange with a small off-white head that quickly fades to a thin film and ring. The favor starts with a quick dose of caramel. It finishes with sour cherry, vinegar, and light oxidation. Doesn’t come across as a barley wine at all. Medium bodied with somewhat lively carbonation.

UPDATED: MAY 2, 2012 12 oz bottle from Odeed. Bottle dated Oct 1999. Nose is toffee, prunes, and some sweetness. Murky rust with a very small beige head. Flavor is lightly sweet with some dark fruitiness.

bottle labelled oct ’99, big thanks to the one and only coldbrewky for bringing this to pilsen. showing its age but very drinkable - brown with only the faintest trace of carbonation, rum’n’raisin aroma, woody, vanilla bean, treacle sweetness

Bottled in October 1998. 12 oz bottle generously given to me by beastiefan2k. Pour is a murky brown with copper, with a smallish light tan head. Very unfiltered looking. Aroma is brown sugar, some fruit sweetness and caramel malt. Taste is sweet malt, some apple, honey, and grassiness. The fruit sweetness is the main story. Palate is unfiltered, medium bodied, lingering cloying sweet in the finish. This held up well. Interesting, thanks Eugene.

Bottle from Ughsmash. Murky mahogany, decent white head. Aroma is full of sour cherry, hints of vinegar, faint caramel. Flavor much the same, with some paper/oxidation in the finish. While it’s obviously past it’s prime, somewhat surprised.

In the bottle on 11/13/09. Thanks to Dave G. for the beer. Pours a chestnut color with a thin white head. Caramel with a model car cement aroma. At this point in the ten-year old bottle, the malt seems to be gone from the beer. The hops are also gone. This is much more like an old ale than it is a barleywine. The beer is clearly past its prime so my entry essentially represents beer archaeology. It still has a finish of big ethanol on the roof of your mouth. At this juncture I’d have to say it is really good but not great. I wish I’d tried this beer in its prime.

UPDATED: FEB 28, 2010 (Bottle, thanks to hopscotch!) Pours dark shimmering red. The aroma is quite oxidized with tones of cherries, massive caramel, juicy dried fruits and floral honey. Some old hops and wet cardboard. The flavour is medium sweet with tones of caramel, dried fruits, firey alcohol, wet cardboard and honey. The mouthfeel is numbing from the alcohol and a bit sticky. Honey and dried fruits in the finish. Medium to full bodied. Bit simplistic but enjoyable.

12 oz. bottle (Oct. 1999) from Cletus. Pours a mostly clear reddish copper brown with very little head and some floaties. The aroma has over ripe fruit, sweet malts, some alcohol with signs of oxidation (not as much as I would have thought). The bottle said it would continue to improvve with age for up to 10 years. Am I one year too late? The flavor has, in fact, held up pretty well. There is a nice moderately sweet malt presence, ripe fruits, warming alcohol and a surprising dry and mildly bitter finish. There signs of oxidation were not as much as I expected there would be. I would have liked to have tried this one closer to its release.

Bottled - vintage 1998. An unclear dark golden beer with an off-white head. The aroma has notes of over ripe fruits and malt. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, alcohol, and over ripe fruits, leading to a dry alcoholic finish. Thanks CaptainCougar for coming to Denmark and bringing this.

Sampled from 12-oz bottle and shared by Badgerben. Pours a semi-hazy orange caramel colored brew with a thin head that quickly dissipates to a clean top. Aroma of powdered caramel malt, some dark pitted fruits, some sour cherry and raisin. Taste is full bodied, boozy profile with some fruit tart berries and raisin. Finish is metallic with some caramel and whiskey aftertaste with a salty bitterness. It’s showing its age.