Dominion Millennium

Brewed by Old Dominion Brewing Company (Coastal Brewing Co.)
Style: Barley Wine
Dover, Delaware USA

Serve in Snifter

12oz bottle. 2009? 2/11/09(?) bottling date. "brewed with honey". appearance of honey(!) pouring out of the bottle. thick, rich, dark gold with sediment and no head. aroma is a very sweet caramel and lemon tea. well, first of all, they did a good job hiding the booze. the flavor is sweet with some sweet sugar lemony caramel candy. yellow sweet tart(not tart). my guess is that there’s a lot of residuals hangin’ around. not bad but just not right...maybe some years in the basement will help this one out. thanks for a much needed english style offering! also, a great deal at 7 bucks a 6 pack!

12oz bottle courtesy of CrellMoset, 2007 vintage I believe. Pours a hazy orangish amber, lighter than I was expecting, with a small bubbly head with lots of bubbles streaming to the top. It looks a little fizzy. The aroma is sweet with lots of light sugary smalls with some toffee and caramel as well. It’s definitely got a doughy character in the nose as well as hints of hops remaining after 2 years. The taste is sugary sweet, just like the smell. There is plenty of caramelized sugar and dark fruits. There is an overall boozy character to the taste and it leaves a sweet, tingly burn going down. There is definitely some citrus hops left in this one, despite the age. The mouthfeel is very slick with low carbonation and medium bodied overall. This is a very good beer, but it’s a little thin on the flavor and not quite complex enough to be an elite barleywine. Either way, it’s very tasty and big thanks to Chris for the opportunity.

THOUGHTS: Nice, but nothing spectacular. It hid the alcohol fairly well. A good barely wine. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a clear, medium to dark reddish amber with a small, off-white head that mostly diminished and left fair lacing. The aroma was moderate to heavy molasses and caramel malt; light to moderate resinous and citrus hops, port wine, maple syrup, alcohol, and that barley wine smell. The initial flavor was rather sweet; while the finish was very sweet, bitter and slightly acidic with a long duration. There was caramel, apple, molasses, that barley wine taste, alcohol, citric hops, maple syrup, resinous hops and slight metallic hops. The medium body was a little syrupy, but fairly oily and a little dry with fizzy carbonation and a slightly metallic, lightly astringent and light to moderately alcoholic finish.

19th April 2008 Silky smooth but low carbonation. Hops dominate but the bitterness doesn’t. I find it to hoppy for a barleywine but very decent though.

Bottle at LCRBM 5 at Kulminator, Antwerp 2009. Haze on an orange gold beer. Aroma of citurs orange fruits. Barrel ageing. Some soft wood. Sweetish. But quite interesting.

Bottle [12oz] courtesy of TheEpeeist. Bottled 02.16.06. I’ve had this beer for 10 months, brought it to two tastings where we never got to it and now, finally, I’m rating it! It pours a deep, hazy orange-amber with an average size diminishing beige head. Aroma: Oh wow, that’s nice: Malty, sweet and quite fruity along with some wood, caramel, alcohol, brown sugar and hops -- quite a bit going on here. Flavour’s no slouch and is quite tasty: Caramel malt, dark fruit, brown sugar, honey, light grassy hops and some alcohol (yeah there’s alcohol but for 11.4% this goes down pretty easy). Medium bodied, sticky mouthfeel, good amount of carbonation. I’m surprised by the low ratings by a lot of people, I really like this.

2005 bottle, from back before AB stepped in..enjoyed in September of 2009. Thick orange-brown color, patchy head. The aroma has deepened, displaying some cognac-bourbon smokiness. The mouthfeel has mellowed in quite an enjoyable way, smoothing is out some. The hops have almost been stained by a syrupy malt, but still shine through quite solidly. Sugary sweet with a raisin and dark fruit edge. Suprisingly light on the palate, pretty excellent.

UPDATED: FEB 11, 2010 [9/5/09] Bottle sample during LCRBM at Kulminator in Antwerp. Murky brown. Aroma of lots of malt, some oak, caramel and fruits. Very sweet flavor with lots of malt, caramel, honey and fruits. Full-bodied.