Green Flash Barleywine

On Tap at Barclays. Dark Ruby. Thin white head. Smells like nail polish remover. Tastes like nail polish remover, rotten cherries and crystal 120L with hop oil dribbled on top. Yuck. Redeeming qualities: It will get you drunk, I suppose, started to taste a little bit better after letting it warm up for 30 minutes, but not much.

Brown bottle, 1 pint 9 ounces, via Philippe Boutin, savoured on November 12 2007; eye: brown with burnt orange reflections, hazy, no effervescence, a bit of beige head, lacing; nose: lots of resinous hops, pine, caramelized malt, brown sugar, black liquorice; mouth : powerful, lots of resinous hops, pine, good bed of caramelized malt on which lay all of that hops, alcohol, light brown sugar, black liquorice, finale with lots of hops and a good presence of caramel and alcohol, mildly sweet, quite bitter, full body, sticky and slightly oily texture, not much carbonation, average astringency; overall: quite liked FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 1 pinte 9 onces, via Philippe Boutin, savourée le 12 novembre 2007; œil : brune avec des reflets orange brûlé, voilée, pas d’effervescence, petite mousse beige, dentelle; nez : beaucoup de houblon résineux, pin, malt caramélisé, cassonade, réglisse noire; bouche : puissante, beaucoup de houblon résineux, pin, bon lit de malt caramélisé sur lequel repose tout ce houblon, alcool, légère cassonade, réglisse noire, finale avec beaucoup de houblon et une bonne présence de caramel et d’alcool, moyennement sucrée, plutôt amère, corsée, texture légèrement huileuse et collante, pas très carbonatée, astringence moyenne; en résumé : bien aimé

Bottle. Aromas of moderate light bread and caramel, heavy notes of pine and orange peel, and a light dough note, with dates and cherries in the background. Head is wispy with some larger bubbles, off-white with excellent and is mostly diminishing. Color is a murky red/brown. Flavor starts moderately sweet and lightly acidic then the long finish is moderately sweet and heavily bitter. Palate is medium, oily and a bit slick and sticky, and has a lively carbonation. It finishes moderately alcoholic. This taste like liquid fruit roll-ups, but just a little overpowering on the alcohol.

My tummy feels funny. This is a big boy beer. Beautiful pour and head, a clear red. Brown sugar malt, lots of alcohol in the finish, huge hoppy flavor. Brown sugar flavor + alcohol flavor mostly though. I’m new to barley wines but I’m a fan.

GABF 2006-Spicy (nutmeg?), hoppy aroma. Taste is huge malt (brown sugar) followed by a medium full bitterness.

22 oz bottle, via fordest. Pours a clear dark amber to copper body under a small foamy beige head that left some spotty lacing. The nose is typical West Coast Barley Wine. Big resiny hops, heavy caramel and toffee maltiness, and candy like sweetness, and some moderate alcohol. The flavor is much the same, resiny bitter hops up front with the malt mid swallow, finishing with brown sugar and big alcohol on the finish. Pretty simple stuff. Mouthfeel is fairly creamy with less stickiness than I expected. A little too much foamy carbonation. Finishes with a good amount of heat. Overall, nothing too distinctive about this one. Pretty boring and straight forward, not much in the way of complexity.

The beer pours a somewhat misty mahogany brown with a portly off white creamy head that settles slowly, leaving the lace to coat the glass. Nose has a nut like sweetness, malt and caramel back it up with a hint of the hop flowers, start is quite sweet, nice malt feel, and a bit of alcohol bitterness, top is moderate in feel. Finish continues the sweetness, the alcohol evident and the hops provides a nice spiciness, a tummy warmer for sure, somewhat dry aftertaste with a lingering sweetness, a decent barleywine, and worthy of a sample.

Caramel in color with a firm, tan/orange head. Sweet caramel malts, grapefruit, hoppy, toasted, and alcohol. Pretty strong. Full, syrupy body. The citrus and grapfruit hops are fairly evident in the flavor. Hanging behind those are caramel malts, and some roastiness. Finish is nicely bitter with sweetness and some alcohol. Very nice. Strikes me as pretty close to a DIPA, but I can see why it’s a BW.