Fat Cat Old Bad Cat Barley Wine

Formerly brewed at Fat Cat Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Nanaimo, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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Pours a transparent copper orange with a finger-width high off-white head. Sweet rich caramel malty aroma has lots of light fruity notes and complexity with some Belgian yeasty character. Body starts with lots of sweet sticky caramel toffee, hints of bready Belgian yeast and lots of fruity complexity. The viscous palate hides the alcohol well. A very nice English style barleywine. Thanks to goldtwins for sharing!

2005 bomber bottle from Oakes, who is not a "a vibrant community with a strong agriculture, medical, industrial and commercial base for a rural community with a population of 2000 located in southeastern North Dakota" :

Pours a reddish brown hue with an initial large fluffy head before fading to near nothingness, some lace.
The aroma has notes of lemongrass, white pepper, clove, apple, honeydew, toasted malt, corn sugar, oak(es), and bourbon vapors.

The taste is simply too bitter on the finish and discombobulated. This beer combines a sugary mess with raw fresh hops that never work together and then the alcohol is a straight up “in-your-face” dominate factor to let any chance of depth shine though. AWFUL !!

The mouth feel is equally awful, with a biting character than seem to be there just to be there, serving no purpose other than being alcoholic.

Avoid this like the plague, maybe the older 2004 is better, lets hope. (Maybe I got a bad bottle, but clearly against the grain on this beer)

UPDATED: JUN 27, 2006 Beautiful beige in glass with foamy long-lasting head. Abundant creaminess and amazing mouthfeel. Taste like a fresh draft. 2005,Bourbon and barleywine tastes significant with good C hop citrus taste. Nice malt and toffee. So drinkable you ram right through and do not feel the 10.5% Great for sharing. A masterpiece for its style-thanks Viggo.

UPDATED: MAR 29, 2006 Bottled (2005 vintage). Hazy amber, brief head.Aroma of apricots and apple. Sweet and very malty with thick mouthfeel. Plenty of caramel, some vanilla and grapefruit. Lots of alcohol coming through in a finish with medium bitterness. Still a bit young and syrupy.

Thanks to Oakes for the bottle. Poured a hazy orange-copper color with a small off-white head. Aroma is sweet and malty. There is a yeasty smell that doesn’t appear typical to the barleywine yeasts I am used to (usually a california ale type). Some leather notes. I like it. Flavor is sweet with thick malt and acidic hoppiness on the tail end. Medium bodied with a decent warming sensation. Very nice barleywine.

UPDATED: MAY 10, 2007 Pours a clear orange amber with a tan head. Sweet malty aroma exudes as well some oak, toffee and a bit of alcohol as it warms. Malt seems to be the main theme running through this beer with just enough hops making it’s presence known to balance out the flavour. The alcohol begins to show as it warms with some toffee and oak also noted. Long lingering finish. That this is from B.C., is quite impressive indeed. 2006’ Sample. Copper pour with a thick tan head. Aromas of wood, fruit, sweetly malty, some c-hops. The taste is all malt at first, very thick mouthfeel, quite sweet but the carbonation keeps it in check, wood noted from the barrel I guess. I like how the hops and the malt keep taking turns dominating as I make my way through the bomber. Really good unfortunate I only grabbed one. Score 8/10-4/5-8/10-4/5-=18/20 (4.2)

This beer brings back memories of living in Guam. Thick, dark and sweet, like the women there and the smell reminds me of walking around the back of my house a week after a typhoon. The Mangoes, Guavas and Star Apples would be carpeting the ground all half fermented, baking in the tropical sun. The scent makes me want to get a spoon! Thick-bodied, massive malts, sweet barley syrup up front. Rich sweet fruit in the middle and a rather dry, slightly woody aftertaste. The 12% is well masked. You will feel it before you taste it! Thanks to Josh for this malty monster!

Decent head which reduces quickly. No real carbonation to speak of. Sweet malty aroma, with lots of buttery caramel. Light orange in color. Sweet and super smooth palate and flavor. Fruity, apricots, more butter with an alcohol presence (nasal). Finish is very smooth and warming. Makes the gums tingle. Starts off a little weak but finishes great. A top notch barleywine.

Bright orange-copper, very limited head. Madeira, cask wood and vegetal chinook like notes conjure a unique aroma in which severe white grapes, litchi and smoked flowery pineapple notes emenate from beefy malts. Roast hinting nuttiness is a match for the beany vegetal aspects, the peppery bitterness is not exagerated while the malts remain moderately dry. Once again, the vanilla laden barrel aging seems to smoothen the body out again, seeming a bit thin side by side with an Old Foghorn, but silky smooth. I can see this maltiness, expertly dissminulated alcohol and originality justify the high scores.

UPDATED: OCT 1, 2005 Intens amberish beer with warm red glow. Head is white-yellowish, big bubbles and fast disappearing. Aroma is very complex. It has hints of Bual Madeira, Marsalla wine and even a touch of Avignonesi Vin Santo. It also has hints of almond cookies, dry figgs, dates, mango shutny and pillav rice with fresh herbs. The taste is rich and elegant. It has touches of bread pudding with a dach of Trinidad brown rhum and sultanas. Hints of good Colheita port wine are not far away. The beer has a full mouthfeel, a fine yeasty caracter, a nice balance and the alcohol is very well integrated in this most original beer. One of the aspects that charmed me the most was the minerality in the afthertaste. It was slight metallic and had accents of slate and granit. In the finish i also notised touches of caramelized and even slight blackend andives (Witloof) that gives an extra dimention to the faint hoppyness in the finale. Thanks a lot Joris for sharing this one with me.