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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Red-amber beer, reasonably clear; little cream-coloured head, fast gone. Wine, vinous nose, true B.W.-style, fruits and dried fruit, Marssala wine, dried fig. Syrupy dried fruits flavour, with a hoppy finish, and with a metallic back-tongue impression, bitter and cake-like flavours. Oily, slick MF, full bodied, never syrupy in texture. Alcohol hidden very well too! Quite surprising beer, difficult to describe. I’m just sure I like it, but it defies my descriptive abilities. Big thanks, Mike!

Bottle. Copper in colour, thin beige coloured head. Aroma was of sweet caramel malts, alcohol and Stephen hit it on the nose when he said marzipan. The flavour was hot with alcohol, peppery, sweet caramel malts. dark fruits. Sticky mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes spicy, long, tons of alcohol heat. This is interesting for sure but I’m guessing that I didn’t understand it like the others that got to try this.

Red copper color with a supple foamy head. The flavor was very syrupy with sweet malt tones...perfect to offset the 12%abv. It had an oily feel in your mouth...a great beer!

Copper colour. 1" head. Creamy lacing. Rich caramel and flower aroma. Thick body. Very tasty. Slight sourness. Not a full Christmas flavour but very close.

RBSG ’05 - the second of my lottery expenditures, and again worth every ticket, poured a deep amber with a thin white layer that seems to last forever, aromas of plums, oranges, tobacco, and soy waft from the glass. most of those elemnts make the flavor profile as well, plus some apple and port wine. amazingly smooth and silky...no abv in the tail, just more of the sweetness and assault of flavors in a syrupy brew that could only be described as amazing.

UPDATED: MAY 28, 2009 This is a sexy looking amber brew. The nose is incredible, sherry, yeast, honey, oranges, horse blanket and cheese. WOW what a nose. The med-full body is rich and syrupy with a dazzling profile of feta cheese, cherries, soda crackers, sherry and shrimp. WOW what a body. The finish is rich and come out tasting like very good cherry cheesecake. WOW, what a finish. The best barley wine in Canada bar none as far as I am concerned. Didn’t even notice the 12% alcohol. Hot damn this guys make good stuff.

Bottle... RBSG2005... Clear, deep amber ale with a mid-sized, fizzy, off-white head. Good retention. The earthy aroma is a blend of tawny port, vanilla, wood, citrus, tropical fruits and toffee. Malty-sweet and lightly tangy flavor assertively balanced by generous hopping. The alcohol is there, but doesn’t steal the show. Caramel, vanilla and woodsy. Full-bodied and sticky with lively carbonation. Finishes bitter, fruity and just a touch alcoholic.

07.08.05 RBSG Beautiful clouded amber, medium khaki head and lots of lace. Tobacco, apple, soy, strawberries, jammy. This stuff is out of control and just beautiful. I get some vinous notes, but not much wood, more like a younger wood aged port...but milder, not old. Palate is so soft but not at all flat.

Marzipan, madeira, sweet malts and alcohol in the vinous aroma. Clear copper coloured body with low white head that recedes slowly to ring. Sherry and madeira sweetness in the vinous, fruity flavour. Light peppery undertone. Some dark malts apparent in the finish and alcohol is pervasive. Strong alcohol warming. Thick, sticky body with fair carbonation. Bottle sampled at RBSG’05.

RBSG The Old Bad Cat has a creamy average-sized head over a light brown body. Malt dominates the aroma and the flavor follows adding a vinous, acidic complexity to the mix. Some bitterness comes through just before the lightly sweet finish. Creamy oily texture. Not bad.