 Beerlando (1135), Orlando, Florida, USA
Jul 2, 2008 2007 vintage. Dark, burnt-orange to caramel brown in color, the brew is crowned in a dense, foamy, beige head. The foam displays excellent retention, leaving sudsy, spotty lacing behind. Aromas are reminiscent of a triple IPA, with massive orange, grapefruit, and pine hop notes showing atop an equally huge malt base of caramel and buttery toffee. This thing practically smells sticky. Vanilla, coupled with a lactic creaminess, lends a smoothing element. Flavors follow suit, with over the top, resinous hops countering the sweet and sticky toffee malts. Orange and grapefruit are striking in their authenticity, while pine delivers a mouth stripping, sharp bitterness that the lactose does well to calm down. Nearly full bodied and sugary, the swallow is smooth, ending with a drying, hoppy finish. This is really a hybrid IIPA/barleywine through and through. The closest comparison I can come up with is AleSmith Decadence 2006, though this doesn’t quite stack up to that masterpiece of a beer. Overall, this is quite good, but not nearly as impressive as Fred.
Beerman6686 (510), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 1, 2008 POured a reddish mud color with a faint off white head. Aroma is very sweet malty with a hint of hops and dark fruits. Flavor is very sweet up front, dark fruits caramel and malts, with a nice backup of hop bitterness.
fonefan (4000), Ulfborg, Denmark
Jul 1, 2008 Bottle @ home.
[Vintage 2005] Light light unclear medium yellow orange color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to beige head. Aroma is moderate to light heavy malty, moderate hoppy, herbs, citrus - pine, herbel, plum, licorice, dark honey notes, alcohol. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long to average duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. (100508)
Sparky27 (388), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Jun 30, 2008 2006 bottle. A careful pour to avoid the one finger of sludge on the bottom results in a semi hazy amber brew in my snifter with zero head. There’s not much carbonation in this bad boy anyway. Nose is honey, molasses, toffee and dark fruits. Taste is very cognac like – very sweet dark fruits with a funky earthy aftertaste. Mouth feel is after dinner spirit like also with an oily, flat mouth feel. Very warming, but the sweetness hides the alcohol nicely. This is what I picture a barleywine should be in my mind’s eye.
SQNfan (369), Wheaton, Illinois, USA
Jun 26, 2008 2007 bottle: Dark but not qutie opaque in color this had aromas of caramel, toffee and chocolate. In the mouth it showed off these flavors along with dark fruit (plum) in a full-bodied beer. It was rich and concentrated with serious weight on the palate. The finish was fresher with some dry/bitterness from the hops. While very enjoyable now I think a handful of years will help this mellow out and drink even better.
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