Carlyle Defroster

Brewed by Carlyle Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Rockford, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter

Dark ruby red, small white head. Very alcoholic aroma with maple syrup and white grape. Cloyingly sweet flavor, loads of sweet malt, more maple syrup. A bit too sweet for my taste, but scarily easy to drink for 10% abv.

Arrived in a goblet with a thin film of a head around the edges. Dark caramel color, slightly cloudy. Aroma was heavy of sweet barley and alcohol was very present. The flavor is very sweet upfront with a cider sweetness and moves into a great caramel malt middle, ending with a nice light spicy ending. The alcohol is pretty well hidden in this beer, especially since its at 10.6%. Beer has a very nice low carbonation for this dense and sugary tasting beer. I hope this becomes a yearly beer at Carlyle because it is damn good!