Gales Jubilee Ale

Formerly brewed at Gales
Style: Barley Wine
Horndean, England

Serve in Snifter

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3 1/2 yr old sample Dark amber-chestnut, nearly no head. Rich, fruitcake, malts & raisins nose, fusels & esters à volonté , some oxydation. Sweetish, with chocolate, Madeira and portwine, in the best possible way; vinous and brandy-ish. Rich velvety MF, going to syrupy. Aftertaste molded by the restsugars. A very satisfying old ale - I wouldn’t have thought the Queen had aged herself all that well...

2002 Deep bloudy burgundy color with out any sign of a head. The aroma consists of spoiled apples and bananas, and a sugar and alcohol syrup; quite sweet. Thick and uncarbonated mouthfeel, initially sweet with a bouquet of fruit and flowers, turning to a nutty and woody finish with considerable bittering hops. An interesting experience, with a very smoky lingering finish.

UPDATED: APR 9, 2006 Intense, still cider of multiple fruit…Acid yeast and dusty caramel do not embellish this moment…Chaotic and corky...Am I a victim of Gale’s mini-cork once again?...And again?...And again?...

330ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki) 2002 vintage.
Rich orangy red, no head. Sweet malty aroma, very promising. Unfortunately perhaps this was just a little too old, as the taste also had a slightly sour tang to it. Also something waxy, and maybe naphtha. The sourness makes it tangy which is a little off-putting. I’m guessing this had a lot of potential to excel, but rating it just as very good.

2002 bottle purchased at Falling Rock Tap House. Pours clear brown with no head, no lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, nutty), light hops (grass), average yeast (dough, broth) with notes of dates and toffee. Full bodied, creamy texture, soft carbonation, and a bitter finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness and acidity, light bitterness.

Pours copper and still. Smells of oak, lots of figs, raisins, brown sugar, molasses, touches of spice, hints of warming alcohol. Tastes oaky and sweet with a tarte finish. This beer has really come together.

Appearance is a boring clear ruby brown color with no head whatsoever. Fruity aroma, complex maltiness: apples, oranges, pears, plums, peaches together with big toffee flavours and some caramel. Taste is surprisingly tart, is this a bad bottle? Red apples, pears, brown sugar, not too well melted together. No balancing bitterness, light medicinal bananas and moisture qualities. Sharp thin body, especially for a barley wine, no carbonation to speak of. Probably another bad bottle due to their silly corks which made it pretty much a "Miss" in the Hit or Miss balance.

2002 bottle. Poured deeper caramel with zero head sticking around. The aroma picked up rich, well-aged caramel and darker fruits, showing heavy oxidation.. the hops were gone, but the malts aged rather gracefully. The flavor found darker fruits, caramel, and toffee at the sweet, again-very-oxidized core.. prickly alcohol showed toward the back.. tasty, but quite unlike its former self. Syrupy and thick on the palate with low carbonation and warm alcohol feel.. a decent deal degraded, but still alright.

Bottle: Dark ruby blood brown color, no head or carbonation or lacing. Nose of sherry and malty fruit, fairly old and oxidized, no dates or anything on the bottle either. The flavor is toasty with biscuit and cardboard notes. Oaky, vinous and tart, sweet berries. Odd and old. For the price you’d think it would be better aged.

Nice. The body of this retired ale is a cloudy chestnut; its white head barely living past the pour. It smells like an aged wine with scents of figs & dates, alcohol, molasses, and dusty caramel & toffee. It’s quite smooth, warm, and friendly on the tongue. Tastes like a wine made of dried fruits, caramel, light brown sugar... wood. The alcohol is there, but it blends in wonderfully. The finish is slightly tart with a low alcohol burn. Nice.

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