Green Flash Barleywine

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

bottle, dark orange pour, good creamy head, flavors of caramel , hops and a little oak, sweet finish

Green Flash 2nd Anniversary Ale:
Dark rosy-brown body with a nice, uniform, persistent, light tan head. Big nose of toffee, caramel, brown sugar, salt-water taffy, and figs. Sweet flavor with substantial balancing bitterness and nice characters of raisin and tons of fig. Has a subtle hint of roast that gives me the impression of a barley wine with a shot of imperial stout. Awesome beer. If I had access to this, I would hoard large quantities. But major thanks to DarkElf for giving me access to one bottle.
8,5,9,4,17 = 4.3

Green Flash Barleywine (2006):
Red-amber body with a small, fading off-white head. Good chunky hop aroma with a nice crystal malt backing. Bouquet has deep earth and pithy grapefruit notes. Brown sugar and maple qualities emerge in the flavor along with a range of crusty and citrusy C-hops. Modest, somewhat crude malt character for a barleywine. Firm bitterness in the finish. Hints at Double Bastard. Solid, but doesn’t excel into the stratosphere like the 2nd Anniversary did for me.
7,4,7,4,15 = 3.7

<!-- i -->Bottle #4502/6000.<!-- /i --><!-- br -->Murky red-brown body, medium ochre head. Caramely, bready, sweet aroma with touches of brown sugar; resiny, grapefruity hops. Toasty, caramely body with earthy bitter resiny hops, definitely faded due to age. Alcohol rather subdued. Creamy, rich, sticky body. Good, not great. Probably was better fresh.

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.

Bottled. Semi clear and amber coloured with a medium sized head. Malty with notes caramel, spice, alcohol, pines and flowers. Slightly dry.

Bottle. Pours a ruby-copper body with a medium white soapy head. Cereal aroma with fruity, floral hops. Quite sweet and alcoholic. Tea bitterness. Not bad but a little one-dimensional and hot.

Deep auburn hue. Sticky, rocky and frothy beige-tinged head deposits dots of lace on all sides of the glass. Flashy nose vibrant plums, pineapple parfait, grapefruit, caramelized strawberries and a touch of toffee/Crystal malt. Fairly yeasty. Minimal oxidation (sherry in this case). Natural carbonation hugs the palate. Chewy and oily body. Heavily bitter and fairly brash initially, though a juicy surge of fruity esters briefly displaces that. Hops soon resurface, generating spicy notes of grass and pine which couple with the oily acids to lend a gentle numbing effect by scrubbing the tongue. Overly acidic hop character steadily intensifies and essentially stifles the development of any brighter hop nuances. Finishes intensely resinous, reminiscent of pinesap and grapefruit rind, yet with enough dryness and alcohol to slightly lift the harsh oils and make way for the lingering malt-derived caramel and nut flavors. A bit more refinement would be welcome here (cleaner maltiness, brighter and more-restrained hop character, etc.), but it certainly is not as sloppy as so many barleywines tend to be. Bottle-conditioned and unfiltered, the way it ought to be; kudos to Green Flash for that!

Rich mahogany, quick to dissipate beige head, no lacing.
Aroma is of alcohol, caramel, high sweetness, high hops.
Flavour is hot, Hoppy, quite sweet, lots of caramel, some citrus.
Warm mouth, med body, mod carb.
Finishes long, sweet and very hot.


Lacking in balance, very high alcohol throughout. It’s just okay.


650ml bottle purchased at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo, New York.

Opened on July 15, 2009.

Vintage 2008.