Green Flash Barleywine

Brewed by Green Flash Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Vista, California USA

Heavy hoppy aroma. Huge creamy, light brown body. Excellent lacing. Fully lasting longevity. Clear amber body. Heavy bitter and smoked flavor. Medium palate.

650 ml bottle. Clear reddish brown color. Low big-bubbled beige head. Loads of grassy hops to nose. Caramel, toffee and grain to balance. Taste has pleasant malt-sweetness, a grassy and citric bitterness, with notes of roasted caramel, dried dark fruits, pine and black pepper. Full body. Balanced. Smooth, warm mouthfeel. Lingering bitterness in the finish. Delicious.

Small offwhite head. Deep red body with vigourous carbonation. Deep firm raisiny malty aroma with roasty caramelly hoppy notes. Dry-sweet roasty wooden malty raisiny taste with grassy hoppy peppery notes. Full body. Some alcohol heat. Dry wooden grassy roasty aftertaste with pine needle notes. Very, very good. (0.65l bottle. Not sure who from.)

(Bottle) Pours nut brown with some orange red lines. Small sand colored head. The aroma is full of sweet malty with caramel and toffee as the most notable tones alongside hoppy notes of citrusy grapefruit, earth and resin. Undertones of dried fruits/dates/fig marmalade, brown sugar, a mild, tulips, chocolate roast, toasted nuts, vanilla ice cream, apple tobacco and a juicy tropical mix of pineapples, lychee, ripe papaya and peach. A tiny touch of doughy yeast is also present on the nose. Some alcohol warmth. The flavour is medium malty sweet and medium heavily bitter with a dryish and numbing alcohol sting at the very end. Tones of caramel, toffee, juicy citric grapefruit, fruits, earth and resin. Hints of strawberries. The mouthfeel is round, creamy and soft with a perfect carbonation. Lingering afterbitterness. Medium to full bodied.

2008 22oz bottle, fresh. Pour is a muddy brown color with some hints of orange. Swirls of white cream head. Aroma is resiny hops on top of a subdued malt profile. Flavor is much the same. Disappointing actually. The first beer I had from Green Flash was their IPA and I’m convinced that is their best offering. While the IPA was sensational and exciting, their higher alcohol beers are anything but.

Bottle. Pours a brown amber body with an off white head. Toffee and lots of malt with a big warming. Nutty with some acidic citrus hop character. Interesting.

Bottle (bomber) from Ölbutikken, Copenhagen, Denmark. Hazy chestnut with a medium beige head. Earthy, carmelly, and toffeish malt aroma with piney and citric hops. Full bodied with medium carbonation. Very well balanced. Well done.

650 ml bottle from Bev4less. Pours a slightly hazy chestnut brown with a medium off-white head that had good retention, and left plenty of lacing. The aroma is rich with malted barley, fruit and hops. The flavor is biter hops forward with caramel, walnuts and pears filling in the sides. The mouthfeel is full and smooth. The finish is long with lingering biter hops. Overall: A very lively barleywine that more closely resembles an IPA than a barleywine. Very enjoyable quaff. Re-rate note. Drank the 2nd anniverserary ale 5-30-09, at Toncatchers. I thought that this has held up very well over the years.