Granite Brewery Gin Lane Ale

Brewed by Granite Brewery (Toronto)
Style: Barley Wine
Toronto, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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Nice red pour with a tan head. Berry vanilla scent. Creamy berry vanilla taste. Some chocolate and more berry comes out after a bit. Very very rich, for desert only! Warm alcohol taste in the finish. Really really good, would love to finish each night with one of these.

Poured into snifter glass. Very sweet aroma. Limited carbonation, sweet taste. Almost tastes like a juice, not sure how else to describe it. Very enjoyable.

675ml bottle poured into a large snifter glass... Deep mahogany body to it, quite cloudy. Not much head. Some very small bubbles visible. It’s got a very pronounced cherry smell to it, also with plums and caramel. Slightly tart and with just a tad of funky leather notes. Some floral notes. Smells like a proper barley wine to me Wow! At first it was extremely fruity, with lots of sour cherries and plums, followed by a very hearty malt breadiness, with caramel notes. Slightly tart, yet sweet. The finish was slightly dry, with some mild floral hops. As I was drinking more of it, the breadiness started to overpower the fruitiness, and more bitterness was coming through. Overall this was immensely flavourful and very enjoyable. Medium (maybe medium-to-full) bodied. Quite smooth. Not much carbonation. The alcohol is unnoticeable at first, but as the beer warms up you will taste it a little (and will most definitely feel it!). Very drinkable for a barley wine. At first it’s hard to believe it is 9%abv!

Draft, Granite Brewery. Whoa, here we go! Badass barley wine right here... I felt like a Viking drinking this. I don’t know if this is the sort of mead Vikings throw down, but it’d be in barrels on my ship. Great pour; as murky as a fetid swamp. Great cherry smell; wasn;t expecting that. Caramel as well. It smells like pillaging. It tastes like plundering. Tart taste. Plenty of fruit character here, heavy malt follows. Great body. The beer really goes through a transformation, as others have noted here. I loved this one, though it’s certainly an acquired taste.

Goblet (draught) at Granite (Toronto). MR 14/07

App.: Deep copper, very cloudy, small tan head. Aroma: Allspice, ginger, clove and cinnamon, some dried fruits, sweet and malty, molasses, some stone fruits, like a mulled fruit wine overall. Interesting. Palate: Thick body, med. carbonation and powdery. Flav.: Lots of spicey fruit (raisins, dried fruits, cherries, stone fruits), treacle, toffee, a little cotton candy esters, a bit of alcohol, moderate bitterness and some roasted malts on the finish.

Not normally a spiced beer fan, but this works. An interesting take on a barley wine. Really nice.

Cask Days 2009 @ volo. bright orange pours, decent cask bubble head and some minimal carbonation. nice way to drink a barley wine. nose was cara malt and ripe fruits. not overly sweet but the hops arent really that noticeable. really nice barley wine that i didnt expect to find on cask.

This beer, served in an 8oz glass, accompanied dessert at the brewhouse. The appearance was rich and dark, hard to tell with the lighting but appeared opaque. The aroma was sweet with that heavy maltiness and little hop bouquet. The flavour was justifiable complex; cherry, vanilla, maple. It could have been the IPA I had before that clouded my taste buds but I detected little in the way of hops. My spouse, after trying my glass, had the opposite reaction and called me all sorts of names due to the strength and bitterness. She runs from hops though...

Draft. Served a bit too cold but warms nicely. Red tinged brown body, with a small creamy off white head. (3+) Sweet fruity aroma, with lots of caramel, figs, raisins and abiguous dark fruit. Touch of round alcohol is enough to let you know it is there. Very English character to it. Touch of sherry. Smooth syrupy medium palate. Quite enjoyed this. Carries its 9% bulk with grace and poise. Lacks the oomph and complexity of American style Barleywines but I expect that is intentional. Under rated in my opinion, I look forward to new experiments from the Granite.

CASK DAYS Volo Toronto - Dark, thin look. Faint aroma. Med Body & taste of dry & rootsy herbs. Dark berry fruit, fine noble hop, sarsaparilla, kola, faint lemon, leafy greenness, some tart tropical fruit (guava, maracuja) - solid and austere, rather than loose, with good fullness & body, and a hint tobbacco.

Had growler with buddy, color is kinda brownish amber. tan foam. nose is boozy, spicey, clove ginger, raisins some darker aspects like molasses, flavor is more of the same, dried fruits, toffee boozy and a nice hop finish