Gales Prize Old Ale (1920s - 2006)

Formerly brewed at Gales
Style: Old Ale
Horndean, England

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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UPDATED: JAN 17, 2004 Headless. Funky aromas of butterscotch, caramel, wine casks, and seaweed. Fruity and lightly nutty throughout. Very mellow.

Just like George Gale Trafalgar ale

Heavily vinous nose and initially a very vinous flavor. But on further drinking, it has a wonderfully complicated, rich flavor. There’s a slightly sweet malty bottom, with woody esters, and notes of chocolate and cherries milling about on the palate. Very good.

Boy I did not find this a pleasant drinking experience. Vinious, but not in a good way. Soured raisin and sherry flavors that don’t marry, will retry, but not soon.

UPDATED: JAN 24, 2012
2011-11-04, traditional corked bottle at Plan B, Copenhagen, vintage 2005, 6 years old, 7-4-7-3-13=34
Oxidized, with malty flavor, no bitterness, quite some liquorice and very low wood character. The aroma is a bit sherry like.

2010-02-22, traditional corked bottle, vintage 2005, 4+ years old, 8-4-8-4-17=41
Dark brown color, no carbonation, no head. Aroma of caramel and malt, sweet and woody, nutty, lightly vinous. Smooth mouthfeel, with caramel flavor, light oxidization, light fruity touch, wood character; there is very little sourness left, no bitterness and almost no sweetness (not dry yet); average alcohol perception. The final gets a bit drier. Harmonious and complex.
A real Sherry!

2009-05-15, cask conditioned at Københavnske Øldage 2009, cask from 2006, 3 years old, 8-5-8-4-17=42
Hazy amber color. The usual Gale’s aroma, more mature than usual, vinous. Good body, good caramel flavor, fruity, a bit oxidized, an oak touch, light sweetness. Great!

2001-09-30, the beer comes in an old style bottle, corked; it’s a 1997 vintage (4 years old) and served at 14°C, 5-3-8-3-14=33
A strong and fast malt aroma. This brew is medium-bodied, for its strength, malty; but the sweetness is balanced by a remarkable sourness, like a Belgian Oud Bruin; there are liquorice hints and a wooden cask flavour. The palate is correctly bitter, but not enough aromatic.

Not a typical barleywine, this is ligher in body, but has an amazing blend of malty English Barleywine flavors and the cork-aging character now associated with Belgian beers. I have had numerous bottles of various vintages, the oldest being about 18 years old, but proper aging is about 3 or 4 years.

I shit you not, a pickle relish aroma. Acetic acid, cucumbers, sweet berries. Taste: oxidation to all hell. This stuff is flat, wet, spiced vinegar. Mineral and rasping finish. Complete and total bullshit.

UPDATED: SEP 27, 2005 Just sampled a 3 year old bottle (1998 in 2001). Very nice. Very cloudy light brown, light carbonation, yet no head no lace - to be expected from its age. Still enough carbonation to lighten the palate a little for this strong ale. Aroma is very nice - expertly balance with some nice floral/grassy hop and strong fruity malt. Flavor was mild on the hops though - a good undercurrent of bitterness but little hop flavor. Strong malt flavor but not overwhelming or overly fruity. Strong alcohol burn, with lingering alcohol aftertaste. The alcohol dominates to the point of ruining any complexity that may be present in the malt - but it remains fairly smooth (though not as smooth as others). Overall a very enjoyable glass - and interestingly I’m very curious to see what a younger bottle may taste like - I’m guessing the alcohol burn may not be as strong in younger bottles.

If I’d read the above before purchasing this 2000 bottle in 2005, I could have saved myself the money and unhappy experience of drinking this one. At 5 years, the malt is more prominent, but this bottle lost nearly all carbonation, and was over-attenuated to the point of being almost watery. Raisiny plummy aromas dominate. Somewhat astringent and puckering with a sherry-like oxidation. I’ll leave my original numbers in tact, but this one wasn’t drinkable.