J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Lagavulin)

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

Bottle 9.3 oz. sampled with Beerded_one. amber\bronze with a small beige head. Aroma of caramel, fruit, scotch-like. Flavor is sweet, good alcohol kick, fruit, caramel, wood, scotch alcohol notes. Excellent brew.

A big scotch and malt aroma,with some lactic background, pretty dark amber color,yum sweet malty raisony taste,with an overtone of a ten year old single malt scotch,big thick body, almost like sipping a Mogan David,smooth as could be. Its at the total opposite extreme of a lawnmower brew,the only time to enjoy this is as a desert sipper,a role it would fill beautifully

2005 release: Brew pours a tawny honey color w/ a shallow, short lived, semi creamy froth. Residual lacing is a thin, dusty canopy w/ a full yet thin ring. Aromas are sweet and sour w/ defined peat and earth. Full nectar w/ mellow residual effers. Ths brew is very sweet yet extremely complex. Theres a very distinct pulled pork w/ BBQ sauce flavor here. Nuances of honey, black cherry, aged apricot, peat, smoke, meat, fat caramel. There is an underlying sour character that emerges from the depths. The finish is long and sweet w/ very little bittering. The Lagavulin or Islay malt characteristic of peat and smoke are defined thoroughly. 2004 was better.

2004 realease: Viscous I say, little frothy with effers only in the mouth and slight at that. Pours a deep amber honey color that borders crimson. Aroma is that of aged balsmic, intense. Ghastly sweet yet extremely complex. Upfront is the sweet honey, slight cherry and vanilla then BAM, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LAGAVULIN BABY!!!!! I have to say I am a lover of single malt scotch and Lagavulin is one of my favorites. When you swallow this full bodied nectar the PEATand SMOKE come alive and has a novicaine like effect on your palate. Numbing the inside of your mouth for a short period of time. Then the finish is that of dried apricot with a slight souring to ballance it out. The scotch barrel aging is a defined flavor and really adds to the complexity of this ale. Overall: I suggest this as an after dinner sipper. If you like dessert wine, Vin Santo maybe, you’ll love this. it’s another example of how an ale can fit into the world of flavors only previously thought of as part of the wine world. Highly recommended. Score: 4.4

Smokey taste. Very pretty color. It would make a nice hair color. Only a small head. Very sweet but in a yummy way. I love it! Delish!

Bought a bottle of this about 7 months ago while on a business trip in Chicago. Nice deep amber color. It had a smoky-ness to the taste as well as the earthy tones. The whiskey taste was pronounced.

Poured with a cloudy amber.definately smell the whiskey.The whiskey was there but not dominant.This was a bit sweet but still good.

I wasn’t as fond of this one. It tasted very strongly of whiskey, highly pungent and alcoholic, antiseptic feel-taste. I’m not a whiskey person, so this one didn’t go over as well.

Has an odd aroma, kind of musty and antiseptic at the same time (it actually reminds me of the preservatives they use for pigs that you dissect in high school). Decent dark amber color with a white head. Quite sweet, but not as much as the Calvados. OK body with decent cabonation. The taste is kind of nice, but the aroma puts me off.