Castle Springs Ye Olde Chucklehead

Formerly brewed at Castle Springs Brewing Co. - Lucknow
Style: Barley Wine
Moultonborough, New Hampshire USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottled. Chestnut brown. Fruity, orangey nose. Very sweet and really hoppy. Thick, malty mouthfeel and lingering very bitter sugary finish. Probably still too young when I sampled it.

Chunky and brown; thick rich malts, dark chocolate. Still a little young, even though it is not made any more.

Cloudy ruby-brown with big and creamy tan head. Aroma is sweet, big malty, rich chocolate, raisin and plum. Taste is full, sweet, dark chocolate, malty, and vinous, finishing with nice alcohol warming. A damn fine beer, and it's a shame the company making it has gone out of business.

4-year-old bottle in 2005:

The Lure:
Brown sugar sprinkled on resinous hops. Maple syrup and caramel coating the fruit salad. Alcohol is burning from within, still showing some immaturity after these 4 years of aging.

The Festivities:
A plethora of powerful flavors waken the palate, but appear somewhat disorganized. Alcohol, wooden hop bitterness, maple malt sweetness, fruity yeast, and sugar manage to titillate the pleasure-seeking tastebuds, and are helped by the scrumptious body. Can’t tell if it has aged well as I’ve never had a younger version, but this remains a pleasant American barley wine.

Transcendence:
Flying over Las Vegas in the middle of the night.

Random bottle I picked up in a beer store in NH. Pours mahogany with a thin off white head. Smells vinuous, earthy, some tea notes. Tastes lightly tarte with lots of tea like qualities. Definitely on the decline, but enjoyable.

Unfiltered pour is betrayed by heavy chunks. Chestnut brown covered by a yellow film. Fruited brown sugar and overall yeasty character strike as rather bready with plenty of crystal malts and burnt toffee flavours. Very sweet in mouth, candyish brown sugar leanings with severe hop backings, mostly fruity and leafy with emanating citrus character toward the finish that lingers on with the coating sugar. Low carbonation and medium body may be growing tired as I feel they could tighten the flavours together with a bit more expertise, thus uplifting the focus from the crystal malts heaviness a bit.

My sample was already aged for few years so maybe that’s why it had to floating chunks of stuff. Nice maltiness, thick and strong distinctive taste. Coffees aftertaste. Nice one.

Thanks for this rare sample, Indra. Poured with a dark ruby body and a yellowish head. The aroma was rich with toffee, some old prunes and molasses. You can tell this has a few years on it. The taste was sweet molasses with lots of pears and toffee. The carbonation was very smooth. A nice barley wine, too bad this brewer is not around anymore.

Intenst prune, wine and orange aroma. Dark brown colour, off-white head, good lace. Sweet, full, hopbitter, prune, wood, too much alcohol presence though. Finish lasts long and is hoppy, alcohol bitter, coffee in the very end and a little dry.

This brew pours a large creamy head that left a most excellent lacing. It had a semi-transparent dark ruby red brwon body. I thought it very mild for a barley wine even though it had an alcohol flavor.