Climax Barleywine 10th Anniversary Ale

Brewed by Climax Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Roselle Park, New Jersey USA

Serve in Snifter

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Thanks to Jimmack and Cornboy for hooking him up with this rare climax beer. Pours out of a cool blue .5 L swingtop bottle. Pours a cloudy deep amber mostly murky brown though- with a slight fizzy head when poured hard but fades and leaves no lace. Aroma is sweet, caramel, biscuit, bready, moderate citrus hop character and a touch of alcohol. Flavor is a bit muddled and dirty with some yeast getting in the way but otherwise- lots of caramel sweetness, toffee, hops, and lots of sugary sweetness. Finish is a bit light and bland with no real mouthfeel or aftertaste. Definitely not worth the $11 price tag on the bottle, but decent overall barleywine.

UPDATED: MAR 23, 2007 500ml swingtop bottle thanks to a trunk trade with Cornboy. Clear, light brown color with absolutely no head. Malty, caramel aroma with some vanilla and a bit of oak. Sweet caramel malt flavor with hints of vanilla, oak and some hop bitterness on the finish. The lack of almost any carbonation knocks down the enjoyment of this one. Solid, but a bit cloying. Re-Rate 3/23/07 Batch 2. The first batch I tried was pretty decent, but batch 2 was much worse. Really thin bodied with a flavor that was dull and flat. It didn’t have any of the good features of batch 1 and more of the bad features. The new score reflects the average of both batches.

UPDATED: OCT 18, 2006 Bottle provided by Jimmack (thanks) at Dickinsonbeer’s Pre-TAP gathering. Blue bottle poured dark-reddish copper. The aroma is not overpowering, a good hop presence but well balanced with the barleywine sweetness. The body is not heavy. The aftertaste is something particular but I cannot pinpoint it. Light for a barleywine. A bit of bitterness at the end. An average BW I would say. 7/3/7/3/14

Rerate: now this has got a chance to age a bit in the bottle, almost 6 months. The aroma has greatly improved, I get hit with a strong English malt aroma a la Hardy’s. 8/3/7/3/15.

Thanks to jimmack for sharing this at the Pre-Tap gathering. Poured a cloudy amber with no head (well, none in my glass). Sweet aroma of vanilla and citrus/vinous fruits. Flavor is lightly hoppy, fruity, and slightly dry with a toffee finish. Pretty smooth and a nice barley wine.

Draft at Barcade. Aromas of chocolate and grape. Color is murky brown with a decent sized head. Flavors also of cherry, plum, raisen and honey.

On draft @ Barcade. Deep copper in color with a little head. Fruity malty aroma. Caramel notes. Malty and fruity flavor. Malty nutty notes. Plum, and raisin. Smooth. Finish is malty. Clean tasting. Nice beer.

from a blue-glass bottle. thin foamy and short light tan head, body is clear ruddy copper. aroma is raisin-like, a little bourbon, and sweet syrupy malt. flavor starts with vanilla!? then gets syrupy and malty. body is light and fairly smooth for a barley wine, sticky with low carbonation. alcohol heat is in the finish and the body is a little thin. some malty sweetness and leftover vanilla in the end.

UPDATED: APR 23, 2006 Marketed in beautiful, 16 oz, swing top, cobalt blue bottles, I enjoyed a bottle of this beer with brewer Dave Hoffmann at the brewery in Roselle Park, NJ. This beer is Climax’s 10th Anniversary Ale, and it is one fantastic barley wine. Only 50 cases of this beer was brewed up, so its very rare, and retails for $10 a bottle, and is worth every penny. Dave stated the inspiration of this beer was a combination of its two favorite barley wines, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, and Thomas Hardy’s Ale. This beer clocks in at a mighty 10% abv, and is a wonderful beer to sip and savor. Climax 10th Anniversary Ale pours to a beautiful, bright, deep amber color, with a thick, creamy, white head, and a soft carbonation. The nose on this beer is outstanding, with lots of good sweet and caramel malt aroma, paired with touch of estery fruit, citrus and flowery hops, and peppery alcohol. The mouth feel on this beer is soft and full, and slightly oily. The palate is complex and delicious, with flavors of sweet malt, toffee, and estery fruit. This beer finishes with more complex sweet malt, and estery fruit, then ends with a mild citrus hop bitteness, and alcohol heat. A fantastic barley wine, and a great beer to celebrate 10 years of Climax beers.

Nice blue swingtop bottle. Tenth anniversary brew. Pours deep amber with very little head or carbonation. Aromas of a barleywine that has aged for some time. Almost like it was bottled and held in storage for a good year. Sweet figgy malt nose comes through as you hold the glass closer. Very smooth, no overpowering hops. Again, signs that this barleywine was treated well to get where it is now. Some hints of candied orange and a malty sweet finish with no detectable alcohol. This is a 10th anniversary brew that should be part of the regular rotation.