J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagavulin)

Bottle. Pours a hazy light brown, with a lot of fizz. The head was minimal, and required an agressive pour to reveal. The aroma is sweet, almost raisin, fruit. The malt is clearly the dominate aroma. This is thick, almost syrup, beer. It’s about as sweet as a syrup. The flavor is like a smoky heavy fruit syrup. As it warms, the alcohol becomes clear. Good for what it is. But, not my cup of tea.

Bottle from Super Saver. Turbid coppery amber pour with minimal head. Aroma of oaky whiskey, dark figgy fruit, and honey. The flavor is sweet, with a nice smoky scotchy peaty taste, and a lot of cabernet and vinous fruits as it warms. This is my favorit by far of all the 4 barrel aged JW Lees varieties.

I’m a huge Lagavulin fan so when I saw this beer at Knightly it was a no brainer. Brewed in 2004. Murky-cloudy amber color. Coaxed out off white head. Nice lacing. Huge sweet fruity (cherries and dates) Barleywine like nose. I can also smell the peat and smokiness from the Lagavulin casks. There is also some hoppiness. My sight and smell senses are telling me this is going to be one full flavored aggressive tasting beer. Just what I like. OK. The taste. Instantly I get hit by the fruit sweetness and in lesser amounts I taste the peat, vanilla, smokiness and then some slight hop notes. Then midway this beer evens out into silky smoothness and finishes very light as compared to how it started. Sure that was only the first sip. As the experience progressed the fruit flavors become more apparent. I taste cherries, plum and dates. This beer is very much like Avery’s Samael except for the added peatiness. Excellent tasting beer that leaves a lingering smoky peaty flavor behind. A bit too sweet for my taste. Might need another year or two to peak.

2004 Bottle at David Copperfields, NYC. Nice translucent mahogany pour..no head whastsoever. Swwweeetttt nose...malty, boozey. Thick sweet flavor...very very peaty, wow. Big caramel malt flavor with that whiskey peat flavor all over the place. I liked it but that smoky peatiness never relented.

Rich sweet malty barley wine with a wine-like viscosity...perhaps almost syrupy...with a good smack of peatiness and whiskey aroma and flavor underneath the particularly robust caramel malt bottom. Nice afterdinner drink!

Pours like corn syrup, even has a color close to it with a minimal head quiklcy dissipating. Aroma of smoke, oak, vanilla and caramel and a touch fruity (orange?). Flavor was at first disconcerting for there were two distincts taste, the smoke and the sweetness, but they initially did not blend. As the beer warmed, the flavor slowly but surely mixed which was very pleasing with a hint of bitterness and a finish reminsicent of cognac. As for the body, I cannot think of any beer more round than this one and it is very sirupy. A true digestive beer, very eclectic.

2004 bottle. I like scotch, alot, and I like JW Lees harvest ale, alot, but I am not sure that the 2 of them blend. It works fairly well after a few sips, but the initial taste is smokey from the roasted peat of the scotch barrell, and sweet from the JW Lees. Smell is full of oak wood flavors. This is good, not really something I would want to revisit, but the novelty factor of it helps bump the score up a little bit. Not bad.

Brewed in 2004. I do like whiskey, and I’ve liked the Harvest Ales thus far, so this should be my favorite (in theory). Pours a hazy orange red brown with a tiny light tan head. Aroma doesn’t seem as sweet as the other HA’s I’ve had, alcohol seems stronger, with the lovely addition of peat. Dig a little deeper and I get a little bit of smoke oak, and vanilla. To elaborate, the sweetness is maple syrup, raisins, and burnt toffee. Sweetness is big, as is the peat, with oak and vanilla taking a backseat. Slight bitterness in there. Some warming alcohol is noted, though not terribly strong. Full bodied and soft on the carbonation. Excellent English barleywine.