Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #10 - Triticus

Brewed by Harpoon Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Serve in Snifter

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22 oz. bottle (original ). Pours a clear brown color with a thin beige film. The aroma and flavor had big sweet caramel malts, hints of chocolate, ripe fruits, not much in the way of hops, a hint of wood. Definite oxidation, a touch thin on the finish.

12 oz bottle, 2011 vintage. Poura almost black light head good lacing suspended yeast. Aroma of chocolate roasted malts sweet esters raisin and some alcohol. Taste is sweet bitter finish. Chocolate good flavor complex thick mouthful. Has mellowed after 2 years of aging. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle from February 2011. Beautiful blend of dark wheat with plum and raisin. Warming alcohol meshes with a smooth maple flavor. Personal opinion this like many higher alcohol beers present best at 55-60 degrees. A hint of banana esters and cocoa. This beer is at a fantastic drinking point given its age.

On tap at the brewery in 2010. Poured a dark brown with a dark khaki/beige head. Aroma of caramel, pine, fruit, chocolate, and some wheat. Quite easy to drink for the abv; some booziness initially, but not too overpowering. Flavors were the same. Some nice complexity.

On tap at the Windsor, VT brewery as Leviathan Triticus. Pours a deep brown-amber colored body with a thin, creamy, tan head that dissipates slowly and leaves a solid lacing. Aroma is rich and slightly caramelized caramel malts with some dark fruits, toffee, a touch of roast and cocoa, and a light herbal hop spice. Flavor is sticky sweet and spiced up front with more wheats coming out along with darker caramels, toffee bread, a bit more of a chocolate note, and some raisin dark fruits. Roasts come in nicely with some spicy herbal hops to dry this out with a medium-light bitterness and some smooth cocoas and wheats in the finish. Lengthy aftertaste with a bit of an alcohol warmth following a slightly syrupy, full body and a light carbonation. Overall, a pretty solid barley wine. A bit of a syrupy sweetness, but pretty dry thanks to the roasts and spicy hops. I like the wheat and chocolate in this. Nice beer.

Bottle from Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, NY. Very dark brown color, almost no head. The aroma is that of spicy brown sugar, a touch of roast, caramel, dark fruit. The first thing that I noticed is that it has a very distinct alcohol taste, which I suppose should be expected of a beer clocking in at 11.5%. Overall, it is smooth, with dark fruits, caramels, and brown sugar flavors mingling with that alcohol burn. It truly feels like you’re drinking a wine-like beverage more than a beer because of these qualities, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was expecting glorious things, and what I got was something that tastes like a dunkel with the alcohol turned up. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not glorious either.

Pours a dark mahogany with ample long lasting light brown head... Tobacco, sugar, rum cake aromas; sweet with a bitter oily finish. Tastes like an imperial stout to me vice a barley wine. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle from fall 2010 I’m assuming, since that’s when it was last released. Aroma of chocolate, candy sugar, bubblegum, some fruity (banana) esters...hard to detect any overt hoppiness, maybe a hint of pine. Pours cola brown with ruby around the edges and a slight khaki head that appears with a vigorous swirl, but is otherwise settled to a ring. There’s almost a slight smoked roastiness going on underneath everything else. Taste is moderately sweet at best with a tingling bitterness that also isn’t too powerful. Palate is smooth, not too heavy bodied, lingering spicy bitter aftertaste, with active carbonation and some alcohol heat. This is really quite easy drinking for 11+%. The mouth becomes more full and rounded as it warms to proper temp. I’m imagining this is slightly different than it was when it was first released, as much of the hop character has to have degraded over time. The wheat malt does provide a distinct tartness throughout, though it’s not overpowering. I guess I would say this is a complex, fairly well balanced strong dark ale. The sweetness grows and nearly becomes too much, but the pleasant warmth of the alcohol makes it enjoyable. I hope they make it again eventually, but it isn’t on the calendar for 2012, so we will have to wait.

Darker than expected, almost brown-black. Spicy, wheat aromas, honey. Taste is similar.

Bottle of the Leviathan version purchased at Crown Liquors in downtown Indy. Clear brown pour with a thin beige head. Aroma of sweet caramel, alcohol, and a bit of chocolate and wheat. Caramel and boozy flavor, with some fruit, wheat and chocolate before a semi-sweet finish.