 thenick (499), North Bellmore, New York, USA
May 1, 2008
22 oz bottle, shared. Pours a cloudy light brown with a head that started out thick and fluffy but quickly dissipated to next-to-nothing. Aroma is caramel, toffee, slight chocolate, and citrus notes. Taste is the same, with a hoppiness that’s usually characteristic of a West Coast IPA. Remains sweet and smooth throughout, and is a very solid beer. It’s not in the same league as some of my favorite barleywines, but I enjoyed it.
caesar (2435), Zeist, Netherlands
Jul 1, 2008 Bottled, bought in Vejle. Clear amber color, short head. Aroma is very hoppy, some caramel malt, hint of toffee and citrus. Very hopbitter taste, malty body. Not a typical example of the style I guess, but nevertheless nicely balanced and good.
skortila (2346), Bunnik, Netherlands
Jun 30, 2008 Bottle from Velje (Danmark). Vintage 2008. Aroma has hops, caramel and rasin malts. Bit more like an american strong ale. Clear, ruby brown coloured with an off-white, lasting head. Taste is sweet, quite bitter for a barley wine. Carmel, raisin maltiness. Some pine in it. Belly warming beer. Straigh forward and good. Very fresh & crisp. Compliments.
mike mcneil (636), St Augustine, Florida, USA
Jun 29, 2008 2007 vintage. Pours an attractive deep garnet-burgundy color producing a thick, creamy tan beige head with superb retention throughout the entire snifter. Thin streaks and rings of lacing mark each sip. Nose is very well balanced presenting assertive notes of chocolate covered malt balls, caramel candy, toasted bread, herbs and citrus/pine hop resin. Palate is pleasantly full, round, thick and creamy with just a touch of resiny oiliness in the swallow. The extremely well done balanced flavor is this BW’s great acheivement to me. Almost a 50/50 hybrid between an English and U.S. West Coast style with the sweet malts and crisp, bitter hops equally making their stand. The sweet brown sugar, fig, raisin and caramel flavors initally coat the tongue. This is immediately followed up by the pine needle and cirtrus rind hop contributions. Finish is long and bittersweet with some subtle warming alcohol to tame the sweetness a bit. Wish we could get this in FL, I’d be a regular consumer. Well done!
Acknud (533), Morganfield, Kentucky, USA
Jun 28, 2008 Nice Barleywine. Caramel on the nose and tongue. Pine hops predominate at the end. Hop taste lingers a while.
madsberg (4359), Bangalore, India
Jun 25, 2008 Bottled. Burgundy coloured. Unclear. Fluffy light brown head. Sweetness, fruits, spice and light alcohol in the aroma. Flavour of alcohol, fruits, sweetness, light caramel and some light grass. Is medium bodied. A bit dry. Alcohol, sweetness and light bitterness in the end. Quite sharp and unbalanced.
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