J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Calvados)

Brewed by J.W. Lees
Style: Barley Wine
MIddleton, England

Serve in Snifter

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Pours amber into a snifter. Head quickly subsides to pock surface. Sweet dry port aromas. Upfront sticky sweet prune. Lasting cloying sour finish. Hmmm

Draft at Rustico Alexandria. 2011 vintage. Pours golden with an inch of white foam that quickly disappears. Big apple and wood notes on the nose. Definite apple and wood on the tongue. The alcohol is disguised very well which makes this a slightly dangerous beer.

Cask; 2011 vintage. Pours hazy amber with average, fizzy white head; short retention and no lacing. Aroma is honey, caramel malt, light yeast, floral hops, oranges, and faint scotch. Flavor is sweet malt forward with supporting fruit esters and hops (light bitterness) towards the end with a nice scotch bite; dry finish. Medium/full body, low carbonation, and high warmth.

hazy translucent gold. Nose is honey, wood, light heat and tea. Soft texture, heavy raisin, dates, and honey. Deep malt, small barrel, accents dryness.

Hazy orange brown pour with lots of crap floating around. Thin white head. Molasses, caramel, toasted malt on the nose. Sweet nutty flavor. Hint of apples. Bitter alcohol finish.

275mL thanks to BrainLayer. Clear golden with bubbles as a head. No tight formation. Weak to near flat carbonation. Thicker honey and sharp calvados nose with subtle apple pie. Taste is a bit papery with some saving grace of thick honey and muted calvados heat. Thicker honey palate with no hop resin or specialty malt mess. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

2010 bottle from Healthy spirits. It pours clear orange-amber, with a thin foamy white head. The nose is caramel, honey, nutmeg, cinnamon, banana bread, stewed apple and tinned nectarine. The taste is caramelised banana, stewed apple, caramel, cinnamon bun, toffee, toast and pear, with a warming finish. Full body, moderate carbonation and foamy mouth-feel. Perhaps a touch too sweet, but tasty stuff anyway.

Old review from 2009 - This 2007 version poured a hazy caramel color. If you put the glass up to a light you see a ton of debris. Floaties everywhere. Don’t let that scare you away though because this beer is amazing. Aroma is very sweet. Almost syrupy. Apple, oak, toffee, caramel, and butterscotch. It’s a strong aroma. Taste is pretty much the same as the smell. Just a little less. Not as big as the smell but great nonetheless. One of the more complex barleywines I’ve ever had. Out of the taste I think the apple is the star though. The mouthfeel is thick and syrupy. Good stuff. I have a few more brews from these guys just sitting in the fridge. After having this again I’ll make sure to bust out a few more sooner than later.

Bottle at a recent tasting... [2009 vintage] Poured hazy amber/orange with a white head. This Harvest Ale was insanely sweet with hints of fruits, malts, and oak. Candied like tones similar to caramel with noticeable alcohol heat.

Brewed in 2006. Pours a gorgeous burnt amber color without any carbonation. Still carries the calvados aroma, but the taste is overwhelmed with sweet raisin flavor. I expected the consistency to be a little thicker, more like a rdeux, if it had this sweetness. Haha ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

2008 edition. My GF brought this back for me from the States (1 of 3 different Harvest Ale from J.W. Lees). Pours a cloudy amber colour with lots of yeast chunks floating all around. Decent light beige-coloured head that is slightly creamy and goes down slowly, not leaving much lace though. Very sweet nose of caramel, honey, raisins, plums, dates and apples (probably coming from the calvados - apple brandy). Medium-thick mouthfeel, kind of syrupy, but overall still refreshing as the thickness does not last too long. Still sweet tasting, but not as much as one would seem from the nose. A nice mix of toffee and red apples with a beautiful smoky aftertaste of burnt wood. Quite easy to go down, as there is no burn and I do like the finish in this one.