Butte Creek Train Wreck

Brewed by Butte Creek Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Ukiah, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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pours the color of petrified amber with little to no head. bare aroma of malts, some slight brown sugar. Typical barleywine flavor, though rather thin and undeveloped, followed by a cough syrup alcohol sensation and unpleasant hop bitter burning. Rather underwhelming, unfortunately.

Bomber. Umm, well, this was really disappointing on many fronts. It seemed to pour and look decent, but on first sip, geez louise, I thought it was alcohol with a little malt/hop flavor mixed in. I love beer, all kinds of beer, I’m always searching for something new and inspired to taste. I’m sorry friends, I’m pouring out this bomber, I can’t drink it. There are too many tasty other offerings to enjoy and I can’t muster the will power to pound through this whole 22oz.

Draft. Not the most balanced barley wine. Pours with a nice copper color and a faint head. Aromas of alcohol mainly, same with the flavor. Cloyingly sweet and very pronounced alcohol notes withe a bit of malts and caramel.

Copper color with a decent sized head. Sweet malt and citrus flavor with a crisp and clean finish.

Bomber...which bombed. If you’re a barleywine lover, I would not recommend this. It is weak in flavor, has a watery mouthfeel, and you must really try to taste much of anything here. It was really closer to a subpar IPA I sampled just before trying this. This is the weakest-tasting barleywine I’ve had.

Bottle. A dark amber color with a big foamy tan head that quick diminished. A pine, sweet malt, caramel and hop aroma. Sweet (a little too sweet) malty flavor with pine resin and a slight alcohol burn.

Bomber from Keg & Bottle 2. Pours a medium copper color. Somewhat syrupy. Sweet candy sugar aroma with a little alcohol. Some sweet maltiness along with light trace of hoppiness. Some sweet hoppiness up front. Pretty smooth and easy drinking actually. Alcohol is hidden fairly well, although it does warm when going down. Pretty enjoyable.

Pours a slightly hazy orange/amber hue with a light slight off-white head. Aromas of a little tobbacco, some dried apricots, but fairly subdued. Mouthfeel is medium bodied. Flavors of not much.... It’s amazing, the alcohol is barely noticable and a lack of depth to the flavor. Mildly hopped and not overly sweet. Maybe a good intro brew to barleywines.

UPDATED: FEB 27, 2009 Bright amber colour. Toasty, peachy, orangey nose. Lots of different malt elements, going nowhere fast. Funny brew to describe, it’s all of everything, some of nothing but ultimately I kind of like it.

Train Wreck looked like a pretty good barley wine that exhibited a standard orange amber color. The carbonation was a little higher than average, and as a result a foamy two finger head topped the pour and stayed put. The smell was standard issue, the sweetness of the malt came across like raisins and mixed berries, and the hops were piney and resinous. The taste was a lot mellower than the smell suggested. The sweet and sour flavors seemed to be at a drinkably mild level than out to strip the enamel off your teeth. The level of bitterness was quite low, and left me wanting more of everything at the end of each sip. On a plus note, the alcohol was craftily hidden until evidenced as belly warmth. A little tinny in the mouth with none of the tongue coating qualities, and therefore little to no aftertaste. Approachable and well crafted, but ultimately not on par in terms of satisfaction compared to the bolder versions of the style coming out of others.