Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #10 - Triticus

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

Serve in Snifter

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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.

very roasty and sweet throughout with some nice dark fruit. strong but nicely balanced, smooth with nice long alcohol/fruit finish.

Sampled on draft at the Headkeeper this beer poured a black color with a medium sized foamy brown head that lingered and left great lacing. The aroma was pine, faint roasty malts, cherry and anise. The flavor was initially boozy giving way to moderate notes of molasses, fig, cherry, pine, anise and a touch of roasty malts. The finish was long with molasses, cherry, fig and a bit of alcohol lingering. Fairly full bodied. Interesting.

12oz bottle from Sam’s, Durham. Dark copper/brown pour with a medium head, some sticky lacing. Powerful nose of toffee, dried dark fruit, and some pepper. Sticky mouthfeel, almost too much syrup in places. Some coconut and toasted malts to taste, along with the elements you get in the aroma. Very sharp and herbal flavors combine with some dry hops in the finish to give the beer some needed balance. Okay.

Location: 12 oz bottle from Buy Rite, 12/22/11, as Leviathan Trictus...H E-A JAR!

Aroma: The nose has roasted malts, chocolate, caramel, spice, dark fruit, and a touch of booze
Appearance: This one pours a dark brown color with a thin, fizzy, off-white head, and minimal lace
Flavor: The taste is rather heavy malt (caramel, chocolate, and a little fruit) balanced by some spicey yeast
Palate: The body is medium-full, its a little sticky, with a fizzy feel, and with a fair amount of boozy heat
Overall Impression: This is a pretty interesting one. It is fairly heavily malted, but the spice and booze balance it out. It isn’t overly sweet at all. It also doesn’t haven’t much hop presence. It still seems to work though, and the booziness isn’t over-the-top enough to really detract from the overall drinkability much. I like what they did/tried to do here. A solid, interesting offering.