Hood Canal Breidablik Barley Wine

Brewed by Hood Canal Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Kingston, Washington USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Pours a very dark brown with a nicely-lacing off-white head. Nice, sweet malty aroma has a hint of tart fruitiness and subdued hops. Starts with a good caramel malty sweetness, revealing some citrusy hops and mild tartness toward a bittersweet, semi-dry, lightly warming finish. Not sure if the tartness is intended, or if this is in the first stages of infection, but right now it’s pretty well balanced and works out ok. Bottle thanks to Larry Pitonka.

Bottled. Dark ruby. Lovely complex berryish toffee aroma. Very sweet and very malty with thick mouthfeel. Flavours include cookie malt and oranges, but the mouthfeel is sticky. Ramp down the sweetness, and this’ll be a delightful barley wine.

Bottle @ OMH-tasting
Malty, sweet, clean, raisins, dates, tannines, complexity. Long aftertaste. Like.

Bottle: Dark caramel, hues of plum, viscous, large sand colored foamy head, fairly nice lacing.   Rich bready/malty aroma, seems very sweet, plums and raisins as well.   Sweet malty start, very sweet in fact, raisiny, plums, dates, but at the back end it gets twangy with a little hint of alcohol.   While the pour was viscous, the mouthfeel doesn’t translate to being very oily.   Body is fairly nice tho.   Finishes very sweet and malty.   Needs to be more oily with much more of hop bite, and not as sweet.   Almost cloying, with a slight bandaid aftertaste. Otherwise still enjoyable.

12oz bottle from K’s Beverage in Bellevue. As other have said, somewhat unique barleywine. Sweeter than I care for, and without a pronounced hop or alcohol bite. A decent barleywine but not superb. However, after meeting brewer at a beerfest, glad to see Hood Canal makng more beers.

No headspace, just like the previous two people. THICK (not large) retentive head and smooth creamy lacing. Pretty ruby crimson color. Nose of plums and plenty of fermented sweet fruit, the dark notes in basalmic vinegar, nutty fructose. The flavor is tart and sweet both in overdrive that run each other out and really putter out on the palate, creating a huge build up to a fizzle then a creamy malt note just slithers down quickly. Noticable hops but the malts are mainly upfront. Chalky but wet finish. Very unique beer, I didn’t like it at first, almost a bit metallic from the tangyness, like chewing on tin foil, then just adapted to my taste buds and now I’m savoring it.

Almost no headspace in the bottle I sampled, perhaps a fluke. Clear maroon color, medium sized light tan head. Sweet malt, apple cider, currants, and faint alcohol in the aroma. Cloying sweet fruit flavor (peach, apple, raisin) fades to a mild bitterness in the finish. Mouthfeel slightly chewy, rather cidery.

12oz bottle, a very full 12oz bottle. Dark amber color. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is malt, banana, molasses and brown sugar. A full-bodied barley wine. Malts are fruity, cherries, bananas, pears, brown sugar and very sweet. There is a touch of a lactic quality as well. Very sweet barleywine. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Dense dark brown appearance. Malty, toffee aroma with black cherry. Intensley sweet palate, not much hop evidence compared to other US versions. Burnt fruitcake, black cherry, caramel/toffee. Pretty tastey stuff.

UPDATED: JUN 27, 2005 Draught, Collins Pub, Seattle
Very dark brown; smokey, toffeeish dark malt aroma. Smooth, soft body. Toffeeish notes lead, with raisiny, plummy depths. Slight burnt raisin in the finish. Light example of the style, but fairly well-made and interesting with those distinctive dark fruit notes. Good beer, but probably not worthy of such a boastful name.