Hardknott Granite 2009

Formerly brewed at Hardknott
Style: Barley Wine
Millom, England

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle from MyBreweryTap. Wasn’t sure about this at first as it was on the smokey side of a Barley Wine but after a bit of acclimatisation decided I really liked it. Not an in your face type of beer, but very subtle and very drinkable.

This is very interesting to say the least. It poured a lovely black with a light brown head. The smell was of chocolate and meat...weird, and the flavor was smoky and pruny with a dry finish. Very interesting, but maybe a little too experimental for my tastes.

2010-07-31. Dark brown body, beige head fades. 3+ Rich malty flavour with a bit of a smokey toasty character, alcohol grows as it goes on but does not taste as strong as it is. Aroma is similar, light smokey, rich malt something...? Smooth medium bodied palate. Good but I am not too sure about it. Bottle at ChrisOs Pre-GBBF Shindig 2010

Bottle 50cl. @ ChrisOs Pre-GBBF Shindig 2010.

[ Raise The Roof Tasting ]. Clear dark brown color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white to beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, caramel, smoke, moderate hoppy. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, malty, smoked. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finish feel is light to moderate alcoholic. [20100731]

Bottled@The Rake. Near black colour (very deep rubyish copper), small beige head. Aroma is sweet malts, some burnt sugar, mild toffee, vanilla and some slight bitterness. Flavour is sweet malts, toffee, vanilla, wood, some floral hoppyness along with fruits and raisins. Pleasant. The Pat-is-smashed got a nice addition in volume from this one...

14th July 2010. Bottle in the Rake. Very dark red brown clear beer. Frothy short lived tan head. Smooth soft palate, a little dry. Immediately obvious is smoke! Then rich malt kicks in with a sweet toffee note. Some repressed fruit peeps through before a soft creamy finish that has contrasting spice and smoke. Different and very drinkable - certainly my bottle went down very easily!

Bottle no 215 of 504 from Utobeer. Dark reddish brown with a surprisingly lively and big, tan head. Burnt and smoked caramel aroma. It tastes burnt caramel and sweet with some lighter roast and alcohol as well. Body is slick and oily. Not love at first sight for me, but virgin breweries are always welcome.

Pours out a lovely deep, deep gold, again they’ve absolutely nailed the conditioning but this beer unfortunately hasn’t quite gelled. There’s a nice fruity sweetness, but also an underlying smokey/leathery quality that works really well in the Aether Blaec but not in here. There’s also a sharpness & acidity throughout & especially on the finish. I know they suggest ageing but after a year this is still not working, it might round out in time but I still do not think the flavours work together anyway.

Bottle drank at the Rake. Pours a cola dark red with a tight, short tan head. There’s a lot of lacing when this lowers. Nose is smoky and malty with raisins and whiskey - particular Laphroaig. Then a marmalade aroma reminds one that this is an English barley wine and not an American hop monster. Mouth feel is velvet-thick and sticky. Heavy peat flavours on the palate, which are really quite impressive. If they were all this beer had to offer, that would be good enough. But the orange rind and earthen hops give it a rounded and complex body. The finish is all smoky, whiskey and sweet malts. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Though I wonder about the suggested aging. Possibly drinking it fresher is better as with time passing the peat character might dominate a bit too heavily.

A Mes rate. Bottle at the Rake.
Good chestnut coloured appearance with a thin beige head. Very roasty and malty with lots of boozy notes showing through. A fairly obvious hit of burnt plastic does it no favours at all but there are some good things about this one. It’s very close to really enjoyable. Rich and malty, plenty of barley wine character, some good chewy wood and a really good peaty note. I like Hardknott, I really do. Easily the best of the five Hardknott beers I’ve tried and while it’s not going to get a big score but ones again, my hat comes off for being brave enough to try something a little different.