Garrison Ol’Fog Burner Barrel Aged

Brewed by Garrison Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Halifax, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle 117/500. Deep amber-ruddy pour with a nice tight white head. The nose is quite boozy and peppery. A lot of orangey/piny hops still manage to peek through despite the briny barrel character. Warming it brings out even more booziness than it did initially. Lots of sticky malt sweetness and some light zesty fruitiness. A bit zesty with some nice fruit and a bit of whisky character. It is quite unique - the barrel adds just a bit of light vanilla and caramel as well as the briny character. There is a bit of lingering brown sugar. A bit of orange peel and some lingering hops.

Bottle, thank you Colin and Kendra and their very generous in-laws who got it at the most recent bottle release. Bottle 1155 - in barrel June 3 2011, in bottle March 2nd 2012. What a rare treat! Beautiful dark brown pour with a frothy tan head. Aroma is sweet and boozy with more of the barleywine then the barrel coming through - which is good. Taste - very good. Sweet caramel and booze from standard barleywine, gives way to soft vanilla from barrel (nicely balanced), giving way to sharp alcohol and hops in a bitter strong finish. All over a very soft mouthfeel which complemented perfectly. Wow, stunned at this balance. A beer that must be warmed up - or should I say not served to cold - this thing became way more complex and enjoyable as it warmed from the fridge. One of the better barrel barley’s I have had; perhaps this most recent bottling is an improvement on the younger first batch from last year (which I did not have). In any case, a fine, fine beer from Garrison, good job folks.

Bottle 139/500. Huge nose you don’t have to look for. Sweet scent with lots of toffee and some alcohol. Reddish copper. I think it needs to age for a long while. Big alcohol note seems to overpower everything. Some malt and hops that are burned by the strong alcohol note.

[3691-20110416] 500mL bottle. Sweet roasted marshmallows aroma has a little caramel malt. Clear, red amber body with a quick foamy tan head. General grains flavour becomes overrun with boozy sweetness and bitter floral toffee malt. Full body is strong and boozy. Interesting to try but it is a kick in the face... Could be nice on ice cream. (7/3+/7-/3/13) 3.3
Overheard: "It’s not gay if it’s another species!"
(c/o JoeMcPhee, w/ him, jerc, RadekKliber)

500ml bottle. Poured a deep ruby brown with a pillowy beige head that lasted a long time. Aroma is whiskey and oak. Taste did not live up to the rest of the package. The strong flavour of mediocre scotch and brown sugar overpowers the senses. It was hard to taste any hops or anything else over the huge malts. Palate was smooth and adequately carbonated.

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a medium size foamy head with light retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of vanilla and light boozy notes is very warming. Taste is a nice mix between some caramelized sugar with notes of bourbon and vanilla. Body is about average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Nice BA barleywine with balanced sweetness and proper use of barrel-aging.

Bottle 500 ml # 117/500 2010
Aroma: woody, plenty of malts here. Nose wrapped by treatment of whiskey. Smooth rich alcohol sugar blend. Light hop. Fairly complex.7+
Appearance: Clear amber with meat shade. Medium lighter top. Tanned beaded head. Proper.4-
Palate / Taste: Medium full bodied. Sweet , fruity with hop underpinning. Candy sugar with barrel feel as aftertaste. Good.

2011-04-17. Crisp ruby-brown body with a modest beige head. 3+ Sweetish aroma, mild vanilla, light alcohol. 7+ Flavour has a sweet malty core, hot alcohol overtones with a whisky character, vanilla and brown sugar accents. Alcohol is warming in the throat and just a bit too hot, but the other flavours work pretty nicely together. The whisky and the sweetness seem nicely paired. 7+ Smooth creamy average plus to medium body is nice but lacks the gravitas that I would prefer in a beer like this. 3+ The whisky and alcohol comes out more as it warms, to its detriment in my opinion as the whisky is not entirely to my tastes. I am not a whisky drinker, and the prominence of the alcohol and the whisky would make it near impossible for me to drink a bottle of this by myself, but there is something lovely about the melange of flavours that manages to make itself known through the noise of the boozy character. An interesting dichotomy. The end result is not one I would return to but makes me very curious to see what they could do with a revised lower abv recipe. More complex than the base beer, but at the expense of sharper edges. Bottle 117 of 500 shared by Joe "The Filler" McPhee

This whisky does not mix with this barleywine. Not a great base to begin with. No aroma. Scotch coloured body, a little grapey taste.Goo drinkability, though a tad salty. Like salt water taffy.Slightly above average mouthfeel. Carbonation medium.

Ruby, mahogany colour. Thin white lace. Surprisngly weak floral aroma of fruit. Rich flavour. Im not sure this beer knows its identity. Its rich, fruity,yeasty and floral in flavour. Followed by aniseed, liquorice and vanilla. Very tasty and interesting beer. Its young, I cant wait to try this again after ageing.