Driftwood Old Cellar Dweller Barleywine

Brewed by Driftwood Brewery (BC)
Style: Barley Wine
Victoria, Canada

Bottle from Brewery Creek. Features a neck label this year that states; "The second release of our now annual winter brew. Barleywine is the biggest of big beers! Copious amounts of malt and hops are employed to produce a very limited release of this very special brew. Enjoy the bright and snappy hop character of this beer now and lay down a bottle or two to see how it mellows with time. This beer will last indefinitely. Cheers!" Pours a reddish copper colour with very little head. Aroma is caramel malt with hints of biscuit backed by a soapy hop scent. Taste is pleasing...thick mouthfeel with raisins, fruitcake, port and nutty malts. Hops ride in at the end and linger nicely with a floral, almost Turkish Delight spice hint. Alcohol provides a slight and warming kick for afterglow...not too boozy despite the young age and high alcohol. This is best enjoyed by swirling the beer in the mouth before swallowing, much like a decent single malt. Utterly wonderful and worthy of high marks. I can only imagine how well this will age.

Bottle. woody hop syrup Barley Wine nose. Woody thick spicy black flavour. Very dry. High ABV brings up fumes in the finish.

Whoa. Didn’t realize until now that this puppy was 12%. Deserves some bonus points. Deep copper, mahogany color. Wood, pine and cherries exude from the nose. Syrupy mouth, woody, cherries, milk chocolate and marmalade make a wonderfully complex mouth. Light marmalade finish. A bit cloying, but not surprising given the strength. Could tone this down to 8-10% range and it would be better, but still a great, but not exceedingly great, beer.

Bomber shared by Enniskillen from CapFlu! Thanks Todd and Chris! Nose was light floral hops with some berry and toffee notes. Light plum brown with a pinkish tinged off white head. Flavor was fruity berries, toffee, hop bitterness, and caramel. Finish was nicely bitter.

Bottle from CapFlu. Light brown with a thin off white head. Aroma is malty with caramel, toffee, light hoppiness in the background, light alcohol. Taste is a nice hoppiness, dried fruit, caramel, light toffee, alcohol is well hidden. Good stuff.

Heres my preamble - I’m tired of heavy malted barleywines with no hops. I actually like the hops more so my rating may be biased towards young, hoppy beers of this style. (650ml bottle) Purchased at Spinnakers Spirit Merchants in James Bay, Victoria, for $10.99. Pours a quick dissipating, creamy beige head with a deep ruby body. I could smell this for hours: passion fruit candy, cascade and amarillo hops. Full-on continental hops, pine, soaked wood. Heavy, so heavy and full. This beer is wondering and puzzling and stroking at the same time. Likely the best barleywine I’ve had since Bigfoot. 9/5/9/5/19

Rich, strong malt backbone suggests bread and caramel with plenty of vinous fruity esters that blend well with citrus hops and occasional alcohol in the aroma. Clear deep amber-brown coloured body is topped by a dense fine bubbled off white head that recedes slowly to a lasting cover with some nice lacing. Strong malty character, vinous fruity esters, and pronounced bitterness. with floral, earthy and citrus hop flavours. Some caramel malt sweetness is notable and alcohol is occasionally apparent. Bitterness lingers in the aftertaste. Thick, chewy and pleasantly full-bodied with some alcohol warming and moderate carbonation. Tulip glass. Cellar temperature. Bottle. Brewery Creek. Dec-08.