Goose Island King Henry

Formerly brewed at Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
Style: Barley Wine
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter

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Shared bottle with Timfoolery. This beer is amazing. The only negative aspect is it was a little under carbonated. Tastes of molasses, brown sugar and all the sweet goodness. Too bad it's retired.... ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

22oz bottle from an awesome trader. Pours clear deep amber with a small off white head. Aroma of toffee and bourbon mostly with some oak, fruity esters, dark cherries and vanilla. Flavor is sweet toffee and caramel malt with boozy bourbon and a great vanilla/coconut barrel character. Medium body with mellow carbonation. This is an excellent barley wine, great English style base beer and fantastic barrel character.

Bottle 2011. Pour is dark brown with some slight red tints on the edges. Very small off-white head that fades quickly and leaves nice lacing. Aroma is of dark fruits, bourbon, licorice, and molasses. The flavor is huge but not overwhelming. Upfront it leans towards the pappy van winkle bourbon and transitions into a mixture of booze and sweet malts. Flavors of molasses, dark caramel, white chocolate, and dark candied sugar.

Malty and a bit bready with the onset of flavors. Bourbon blends perfectly, careful not to outshine the tasty base beneath. Mildly sweet as the booze jumps in, soothing my throat as I swallow. Fantastic. This is holding up pretty well; interested to see how further age affects the King.

HUGE thanx to 77ships for this one to taste it ! ( and readbaron for trading another bottle with me) pours black, no foam at all. smells very very heavy on the bourbon side! low carbo , sweet, BOURBON, just like you’d drink bourbon with carbonation. the bourbon-taste in this one aint that bad, but damln , this is OVERKILL to me ! yet everyone else seemd to be prepared to die for another shot...

22 ounce bomber aged 2 years. Gentle and crisp bourbon aroma mixed with lots of chocolate malts, and something else in there that I interpreted as mint. Black appearance, not very viscous, dark brown head of foam. Tastes were all present as advertised in the brewer’s description: stout, bourbon, barley malt grains, a touch of alcohol warmth, and creme de menthe smoothness. Amazing. Medium-to-light bodied. Carbonation sizzle in the mouthfeel. Overall, hands down the best beer I’ve had from Goose Island and among my all-time top ten. Well rounded and approachable, this one ages quite nicely.

Pours dark unclear crystal amber with a decent beige head. The aroma brings sweet malty light chocolate notes and some boozy perfumy hops at the end in the nose. The flavor brings sweet milky and white chocolate notes as well cutting out any resiny flavors brings such a smooth body for the high ABV. Truly one of, if not the best, barleywine I have ever had.

UPDATED: FEB 18, 2013 2/II/13 - 1Pt. 6Fl. Oz. bottle @ Brugs Bierfestival 2013 - bottled: 10/VIII/11 - bottle # 0758 (2013-119) Thanks to 77 ships for sharing the bottle!

Clear dark brown beer, no head. Aroma: lots of bourbon, vanilla, sugary, caramel, sweet. MF: ok carbon, full body. Taste: lots of caramel, alcohol, boozy, vanilla, bourbon, sugary, little bitter. Aftertaste: caramel, mocha, chocolate, vanilla, sugary, alcohol, really good beer...

66cl bomber shared with 77ships.BB 10/08/2011. Brune foncée d’une opacité profonde, col faiblard avec une fine mousse beige-jaunâtre. Arôme est dans la lignée de ces grands barley wine américains, bourbon est partout laissant de belles notes vanillées, sur un léger côté chêne américain. Profile rétro-nasal est plein de bon malté, caramel, toffee, sucre brun avec ce côté sucré caramélisé. Je n’y ai pas spécialement distingué ce profil fruité noir que l’on trouve parfois. Palais est digne de la pub fait autour de cette bière. Malté, caramel profond sur un alcool bien réchauffant et contribuant à la complexité de la bière. Le tout devient collant aux lèvres sur des notes de toffee, caramel, malt, mélasse.Bourbon est présent sans pour cela dominer et ajoute une couche additionnelle de complexité, couronné par une pointe de douceur vanillée. Le houblon se fait vite oublier et contribue que très peu au développement du produit. Pas mauvais et content d’avoir pu déguster cette bière. Pour reste en dessous d’un FW Sucaba. Pas exceptionnellement tombé sur mon cul avec cette bière, une bonne bière est un fait, de là à en être la perle rare, ça reste à débattre.

65 cl. bomber graced by beautifully designed label art. Had my lion’s share @ Brugs Bier Festival 2013. Bottle nr. 0758 – bottled on 10/08/2011. So this is indeed the batch that was aged on 23 year expression of Pappy Van Winkel barrels previously used for BCBS Rare. Obtained in a trade. Pours surprisingly dark – I mean this pours black – I don’t think that I have ever seen a barley wine this dark, black I mean. No head, only very small mocha bubbles when pouring. Pours black as the night, viscous, oil black,… Getting maybe a burgundy hue when holding up to the light. Nose is Huge on the bourbon, its obvious that they made the base beer in such a way that it would pick up the maximum of the barrels used – fiftyfifty style – which makes sense when using luxury barrels like this, huge, lots of bourbon even clearly alcoholic in the nose, very strong & potent, underneath all of this I am getting lots of molasses, sweet, maple syrup, concentrated liquid brown sugar, sweet malts, caramel ooze, almost light roast,… Taste is equally HUGE, the barrels are very dominant in this, drenched in bourbon, it works but there is crazy amounts of it even with a year + on it, booze in the finish, this is one serious beer that tastes beyond the even potent 13.4 %, thick molasses, very sweet concentrated lightly roasted malts, light roast in the back, warming, caramel, thick, tick liquefied dark cane sugar, chocolate, pitch black & some milk chocolate, very dark wood, roast, toffee, syrupy dark fruits, syrup, roast, warms the throat, alcohol going down along with it,… Despite the appearance this stuff is not flat & fitting. Slick. This is a very potent beer, such strength, rarely had something like this esp. with it still actually working like here & not crashing. Reminds me a bit of Bourbon BA Dark Lord. Almost a bit hard to do after half a bottle. Not sure about this beer being “the” barely wine because it totally does its own thing. Not sure where all the reviews about this being exceptionally smooth come from, this is Powerful & in this its strength lies. This stuff is sure an experience & was worth the cost of acquiring in my opinion quite an experience to drink. Wow.