 whaleman (2168), North Wales, Pennsylvania, USA
Jan 29, 2005 Updated: Mar 6, 2005
Sampled both batch #7 (about 2 years old) and batch #3 (about 6 years old) side by side. Caramel-brown body with some mild haze and a minimal, mature head. Has elements of spicy dark fruits (especially batch 7), light fruits (especially batch 3), brown sugar, vanilla, and molasses. Long, fantastiic finish with fig and prune flavors. Nicely bitter, but well-balanced. Aging has seemingly taken some edge off of what, when fresh, must have been a lacerative, hoppy beer in the mode of Rogue Old Crustacean. A nicely aged, phenomenal beer, very open but not overly oxidized. Thinking about this beer makes me drool. Huge thanks to Bob Gosselin for sharing two wonderful vintage barley wines. This beer is the current holder of the fictitious Whaleman Gold Medal for best beer brewed in New Mexico.
erway (1001), Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Dec 3, 2004 Deep, deep amber with a little head and a fair amount of lacing. They should really serve this in a snifter, not this little flute POS. Caramel nose with a sharp piney hoppiness and some spiciness from the yeast. Definitely a chinook bittereing like old crusty. Some nice cascadey aromas. A little thin for a BW. Lots of caramel in the flavor, almost tothy and candy-like. Nice dry bitterness, not overpowering, finishing slightly warm.
Terminus (1955), Illinois, USA
Sep 19, 2003 Updated: Feb 23, 2005tap at the brewery: WOW, what can i say about this one. Well this is a barleywine that rivals that of old horizontal. Very complex profile of hops and malts with a color and aroma that are just this side of perfect. This is awesome stuff and i hope the brewery has this for a while.
ReRate-sampled a batch #3 (6 years old) and batch 7(2 years old). These beers were very similar, other than the fact that the sweetness was much higher on batch 3 from longer aging. still a decent amount of hops in the #7 which led to a vanilla and black licorice finish. truely great beers! Thanks Bob for bringing out these awesome aged specimins!
Rerate 2-batch 7 (3 years old) This beer just fucking rocks! The hops have mellowed to a mild bitterness and the carmel/toffee notes have risen in all their might! wonderful palate-smooth and sticky with lingering caramel notes that go on for infinity. I was so happy to see that bob put this beer on tap since they "didnt have many other dark beers on tap" this week. I had to have a second serving before i was satisfied.
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