Glacier Big Woody Barleywine

Brewed by Glacier BrewHouse
Style: Barley Wine
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Serve in Snifter

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FOBAB 09. Pours red/brown with almost no head. Aroma of Jim Beam, woody, caramel malt. Decent flavor, but nothing special compared to the rest of the beers I had this day. Boozy in the flavor. It was cool to see them bring beer from Alaska for this occasion though.

On tap at Bistro Barrel Aged Fest. Pours dark amber with a thin beige head and a sweet malt aroma. The flavor is sweet malt with a lot of bourbon in it, providing some heat and a little sourness at the finish.

FOBAB 09. Pours ruby with a small off-white head. Aroma is strongly of Jim Beam, wood, sugar, malt, and caramel. Taste starts off with a huge Jim Beam character that never subsides and dominates the entire beer. There are some characters of wood and caramel, but they are extremely muted. There is also an undelying earthiness that doesn’t quite work. Has a base of dry malt that is dominated by the bourbon flavor. Lingering taste of more Jim Beam. The alcohol is well masked behind the flavor, but it does have a nice warming effect. If you don’t like Jim Beam, you won’t like this beer. It’s all bourbon, with very little of the actual beer still there. Not impressed, at all.

UPDATED: JAN 29, 2010 Draft @ Glacier Brewhouse; was eager to try this again after being disappointed by it at Hard Liver; dense brown with foamy white head; malty sugars and caramel with oak, vanilla cookies; winey rich with an almost port-like sweetness; medium body with touch of oxidation; chaulky and dry finish; pretty solid overall and maybe a tad too sweet

Original rating (3.2 overall): draft @ hard liver ’09 - with all the buildup, this sucker fell flat on its face IMO; clear, amber, slight white head; lemony hops, woody, light caramel; thin texture, mild flavor profile; eh; as Mike LaFontaine would say, "Wha’ Happen?"

On tap at Hard Liver Barleywine Festival 09, Brouwer’s Cafe. Crystal clear brightly rubied medium amber with very little head and no lace. Creamy medium body. Vinous, boozy nose. Tons of vanilla-y oak on the mid-palate, without much company, other than some notes of caramel. Mild dry finish. This can’t possibly be their best batch of this stuff.

Brouwers Hard Liver Fest 2009. One of my favorites of the fest. Big sweetness up front, but enough bitterness to keep it from being cloying. Chewy body, lots of caramel and cherry notes. Bourbon is on the softer side, not the big vanilla that some of them had, siding more with the oak flavors, more mellowed. Hops had died in floralness, but provided enough bitterness to counter some of the sweetness.

clear auburn brown, rim of a head. aroma is alcohol, bourbon and woody. taste is sweet. slightly numbing palate.

UPDATED: NOV 20, 2009 On tap at Toronado for Barleywine fest ’09, then again at the Bistro in Hayward for Barrel Aged Fest ’09. This is another amazing barleywine from Alaska. Big Woody, huhhuh huhhuh (Butthead voice). Clear dark orangish-brown color with a nice beige head. Aroma is sweet malt, caramel, port, bourbon, vanilla, and oak. Sweet and malty flavor with toffee, vanilla, bourbon, spiced cider, wood (huhhuh) and some hop bitterness. Really long finish. Medium-full body with a very smooth yet lively mouthfeel, really nails it on the palate. Alcohol present but not too dominant. I would like to encounter Big Woody again in the future - the beer I mean, definitely not the other kind.

Draft@ Glacier Brewhouse. Clear copper with a tan head. Nice bourbon wood vanilla aromas with sharp caramel. Medium body with soft carbonation. Big notes of bourbon, with subtle white wine barrel flavors on a sharp caramel base brew. Warming boozy alcohol to finish. More bourbon than barleywine flavors here, still a very good barrel aged beer.

FoBAB 2008. Poured a slightly hazy medium orange color with an off white head. Distinct oak and wine in the nose accompanied by cotton candy and caramel notes. Medium bodied and delicately sweet with mild bitterness. Distinct oaky red wine, caramel, and toasted bread flavors. Warming alcohol effect. Not bad.