Durham Benedictus

Brewed by Durham
Style: Barley Wine
Durham, England

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle at Cockney Pub in Århus. Clear amber - offwhite head. Caramel, sweetness, raisins, dried fruits, high sweetness, light bitterness, vinous, sweet malty, brown sugar.

Pours dark amber with a large, lasting white head. Nose shows orange marmalade, caramel, grapes. Reminiscent of cognac slightly. Interesting. Very sweet flavours, some grape notes, a bit of booze showing. Somewhat similar to a tripel, the flavours are rather lighter than most barleywines. Carbonation is too high for these characters.

A clear golden colored beer, with a thick foamy white head. The aroma of fruits, like apricot, citrus, also malt. The taste of sweet fruits notes of liquorice and hop. The aftertaste has laurel with bitter notes.

Amber colour, white, quickly deminishing head leaving no lacing. Aroma of malt, caramel, peach, nuts and perfume. Flavour is sweet malty, light hops, citrus peel, honey, caramel, fudge and brown sugar. Quite slick, light cloying sweetness, quite like honey. Finish caramel and citrus peel. Not bad, but expected a bit more.
(From 500mL bottle @ home)

Bottle 50 cl, Westholme Stores, shared with Mats. Pours clear amber with a great off white head leaving a good lacing. Aroma is malty sweet madeira raisins and fruity. Flavor a bit dissapointing; weak not much BW character but yet a bit. OK bitterness even in finish.

500. Pours a murky medium amber with no real head or lace, just little white wisps. Toffee, sweet cream, and a bit of apple skin on the nose. Creamy medium body. Toffee, sweet cream, and apples again on the mid palate. Mild caramel finish. Not much happening here.

Bottle. Pours a lifeless, dead honey gold, no head, no carbo. Bad sign... aroma is low apple fruit and grain. Palate is flat, no carbo, and is totally OFF. Bummer.

Bottle, 13C. Amber with an off-white head. Aroma of oranges, honey, cough drops, toffee, spiced dough. Quite syrupy. Complex malt flavours with some sherry, oranges, pears, butterscotch before a drying spice and pine finish. Alcohol sticks out a fair bit and partially obscures some of the nice things going on here.

Tasted this in the Three Judges, Glasgow in January 2008. Cask, handpump dispense. Clear orange amber in colour with a very thin open white head. Strong aroma of barley sugar, orange peel and candy floss. Rich syrupy mouthfeel and poor lacing. Pale malt delivers a strong sweet base of golden syrup, brandy snaps and glycerine fruits. Very slight nod to the one or two hop flowers in the brief aftertaste but sweetness dominates. Finish is silky sweet, malty and throat warming with alcoholic cough syrup notes wafting through. Reminded me of a really strong version of the then Gibbs Mew Bishops Tipple. An excellent barley wine and worth seeking out. Try this instead of the Magnificat, highly recommended.

500ml bottle pours a golden orangeish color with a small white head which leaves very few spots of lacing behind. Aroma is earthy and nutty with a hint of fruit and alcohol. Taste is malty sweet with a hint of nuttiness and earthiness and traces of alcohol and hops in the finish. An ok barley wine, but a little lighter on the alcohol than I am used to in this style.

Bottle: Small off white head on top of an almost clear orange colored beer. Smell malts, nuts, herbs, leaves and something light creamy. Taste is a soft and smooth mix of malts, herbs, caramel, cream, light toffee, light clay, low bitterness and a light touch of dryness. Soft malty herby caramelish aftertaste. Low carbo, soft mouthfeel, medium  body and a soft light sticky texture.