Great Lakes Barley Wine

Shared at the pre-DLD ’08 party. Some syrupy malts at work here. This doesn’t seem that old, but it’s already lost its hop profile. I’ve had astonishing stuff from Great Lakes, but this isn’t one of them. Keep trying.

Poured FAR too cold at the brewpub. It seemed to be an absolute age cupping it in my hands to warm it up. Pours flat with a miniscule ring of foam. Golden sunset orange. Diabetically sweet aromas of sugary stickiness. Flavors are underwhelming with a disjointed hodgepodge of alcohol fire, lip-smacking sugars, raisin, honey, and green leafy hops. I wanted to like it, I really did. But there was nothing there to warrant a second snifter...and I always order up multiple full-size samples during our yearly baseball Opening Day get-together.

Shared at Cornboys Barley Wine Blind. Wow did I dislike this one. Poured a rather flat brownish amber with virtually no head. Aroma honey, brown sugar, grain and garlic. Thin watery body with very light carbonation. The aroma left no indication of the horrible flavor to follow. I think I actually dumped this one an couldn’t even finish my two ounce sample. Yuck.

On tap at the brewery. Nice amber brew, clean body with lively carbonation and nothing cloudy detectable. Resiny hops detectable in the nose, as well as some apricot and brandy. Definitely hot and boozy, and a strongly hop forward BW like Old Guardian. I found it enjoyable and fairly impressive, but it would definitely benefit from aging (bottle it!).

Poured a clear amber color with a small, white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of toffee malts, floral hops, citrus fruits, light honey, vanilla, and some alcohol in the finish. Taste of sweeter caramel up front, citrus fruits, toffee, pine, toasty dough, and moderate bitterness, with a bit of alcohol in the finish.