J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagavulin)

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

Serve in Snifter

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Cask. Pours hazy amber with average, fizzy white head; short retention and no lacing. Aroma is sour fruit, bread malt, grassy hops, woody notes, and grapefruit. Flavor is sweet malt with balancing bitter hops and fruit notes towards the end; some barrel undertones and a dry finish. Medium/full body, low carbonation, and high warmth.

2005 edition. Shipped to me by my wife on a trip to Portland. +++ Sampled from a 9.3 oz brown bottle this beer poured a medium brown color with a trace soapy tan head that faded instantly and left no lacing. The aroma was a lovely mix of toasted caramel, toffee, golden raisins, hints of pineapple, honey and nut and followed by more toffee. The flavor was amazingly different from the nose dominated by wood smoke and bacon with undertones of honey and toffee. The finish was long with wood smoke and bacon lingering. Full bodied and syrupy but undercarbonated. Amazing nose but disappointing flavor.

Clear pale yellow-orange pour with a thin tan head. Sweet aroma with honey and raisin notes. Toasted malt with nutty notes. Very sweet malty flavor. Notes of honey with a bitter moderately hoppy finsih. Smoky whisky in the finish that lingers

2005 bottle from Perry’s Liquors, Livermore. It pours slightly hazy amber, with a bubbly off-white head. The nose is smoke, alcohol warmth, cinnamon, toffee, caramel, leather and nougat. The taste is tinned nectarine, fig, raisin, caramel, smoked peat, wood, honey, whisky and alcohol warmth, with a dry finish. Full body and low-moderate carbonation. Mouth-feel is softer than the more recent vintages. Lagavulin character is obvious! Great stuff.

2004 vintage. murky tan-chestnut, spotty cream head, large bubbled ring, heavy floaties. Nose is tea and wood, light date and sugar. Very sweet caramel and brown sugar, lightly oaky malt, heavy date throughout. Very pleasant, balanced. Not the regular, but still solid.

2005 Edition - Pours a murky orange - brown with no head. Aroma is sweet, caramel, and fruity notes. Flavor is sweet, caramel, smokey peat, with a mostly scotch finish.

This poured a straight flat medium brown color with no head at all. Aroma was very sweet malts, lots of caramel and toffee. Flavor was overly sweet, like these usually are. Probably needs more age on it. A bit more complex than the regular version but the lack of carb and the overly sweetness kills me.

Had this at Ratebeer’s Horny Devil Pittsburgh Winter Tasting 2012. Big thanks to the old Horny Devil himself for this beer. First off, if this a barley wine, its the best barley wine I have ever tasted. Not like the barley wines I am familiar with what so ever. Very nice, almost opaque dark brown. No head or apparent foam on the pour. Dull unique aroma. Super sweet beer, quite interesting. I think I really like this stuff! The overall effect is super sweet and flat. Very unlike beer in the conventional sense. Has some of the same attributes as many meads I’ve sampled. Perhaps even like stronger wine. Certainly not a beer as we know it. One of the most unique indescribable flavors to date. Yes, overall quite sweet but never cloying. A lovely beer! BIG THANKS JAMES!

Thanks to my favorite wife for this bottle, part of a lovely Christmas box. 9.3 oz. bottle popped to end a nice Saturday evening, 2007 vintage. Pours with massive floaties, Sediment Gone Wild! Yeasties slowly settle to the bottom of the glass in a caramel-colored brew. Smell is strong whiskey, very distinctive, not at all like the standard barrel-aged American beers. Smoky & sweet. J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagaluvin Whiskey Cask) is uniquely English. Having a problem locating the word until looking at the other reviews: peat. Yup. Burning peat bog. Sweet, sweet, almost honeyed malts. Underneath, all sorts of more subtle feelings. Caramel, slightly herbal, additional honey. Very nice. Pretty flat & heavy, but no problem taking this small bottle down. This beer really grew on me as it warmed & I moved through it. The unusual whiskey is really nice, the complexities lovely. Really good beer that’s licking the boot of excellent; looking forward to the other varietals.

Wow. Brilliant combination - only a robust barleywine could handle Lagavulin.