J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Sherry)

Formerly brewed at J.W. Lees
Style: Barley Wine
Manchester, England

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle 275ml.
[ Trade by GAManiac ]. Clear medium amber orange color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, toasted, bread, wood, sherry, alcohol, light oxidide malt. Flavor is heavy sweet and moderate to heavy bitter with a long duration, plums, dried fruit, alcohol warm. Body is medium to full, texture is creamy - syrupy and sticky, carbonation is flat, finish feel is light to moderate alcoholic. [20100417]

A dark amber beer with a disappearing beige head. The aroma is woody with notes of sherry as well as light notes of alcohol. The flavor is sweet with lots of caramel as well as alcohol and hints of sherry. The mouthfeel is sticky.

27.5 cL bottle. Pours hazy brown with a lacing white head. Dense fruity aroma, solid malt aromatic. Sweet caramel and mild fruity flavour. Solid malt flavour, light roasted. Ends with a long lingering yet light roasted malt flavour and quite smooth.

(Bottle 27,5 cl) Courtesy of boboski. Hazy amber golden with a small, off-white head. Somewhat special tobacco aroma - fresh tobacco leaves. Quite full-bodied, sweetish - even sugary - oxidized sherry notes and then again fresh tobacco. A little salty perhaps. Absolutely no bitterness. 200608

Bottle. 2003 vintage. Pours a clear copper colour with a small off-white head. Dry malty, dusty yeasty aroma with hints of fruits and wood. Sweet malty dusty slightly fruity cherry flavor with some woody hints. Long malty aftertaste with woody hints.

Bottle @ Brugmansia/Fonefan Tasting, April 2010. Pours clear amber with a red hew and a small off white bubbly head. Nose is deep and vinous. Sherry, oak, vanilla, plum and liquorice. Flavor is complex as well. Extremely sticky and oily. Alcohol, barrel, vanilla, plum and syrup. Long aftertaste. A true sipper. A bit boozy perhaps. Nice ..

UPDATED: DEC 10, 2012
2012-12-08, vintage 2005, 7 years old, 7-5-8-4-17=41
Hazy dark amber color, with small sized creamy head. At first there is a whiff of oxidization; then the aroma is malty, with light chestnut honey, similar to mead. The malt flavor is rich, delicious as usual from J.W. Lees, sweet, round, almost honeyish, with some toffee, caramel, impression of sweet nuts, almost no oxidization, and comforting alcohol warmth.
This one is the most Barley Wine of tonight’s parallel tasting, the most elegant.

2008-06-20, vintage 2004, 4 years old, 8-4-9-4-17=42
great thanks to Papsoe for sharing!
Hazy dark amber color. Sweet malt aroma. It has a full mouthfeel, with full malt flavor, very sweet, classic English Barley Wine, with minimum bitterness. Almost syrupy at the end, but luckily there is some more caramel and bitterness. It may be my imagination, but I feel some cherries both in the aroma and flavor. In complexity, it’s second to the Lagavulin only. Excellent.

Bottle, 11.5%. Very sweet aroma. Fat, sweet dried fruits, perhaps an acidic note from the sherry cask. Cloudy brown amber colour. The flavour is very sweet, even sugary. Good alcohol level, but not enough to balance off the sweetness. Some vanilla in the flavour, faint hint of acid, but again not enough to balance the sweetness. Late tobacco finish. Totally lopsided, but I like strong, sweet beers.

(Bottle, ’03 vintage) Pours a clear amber body with a medium-sized white head. Aroma of sweet malt, caramel, and some sherry. The cask is not as evident as the Laguavulin version. Flavor of sweet malt and some alcochol (nicely hidden for 11.5%).

Bottle at Cropredy from my DLD haul ... deep brown ... sweet fruity malts ... wouch of wine nose ... sweet syrupy toffee ... rich malts ...vanilla .. very juicy and soft and rich and plummy... little dusty toffee... wonderfully sublime.