J.W. Lees Harvest Ale

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

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: JUN 3, 2009 8-30-2004 2001 Edition: Dark cloudy red/brown color, little head. The aroma is strong with malt, chocolate, whiskey, and brown sugar. Very sweet flavor, similar to the sweetness in a higher alcohol beer (like a WWS.) But this does not have the punch in the mouth from the alcohol. This just has a very nice sweetness to it, and a strong malt taste. The finish ends with a roast chocolaty combo that is just, plain, good. 1999 Edition purchased and drank 6-3-2009. This beer, by my math, is a decade old. That makes this nothing to sneeze at. Sure we have (almost) all had some oldies that were standout, but a decade is not something to put a regular pasteurized bottle up to. I have higher hopes for this one. I have had several old bottles in the past, but nothing close to a 10 year age difference. I have managed to get some old ones -1997 I think is the oldest. Unfortunately through a hiatus from drinking and a few moves the beers were lost. They were never the ones that I could just crack open all willy-nilly. What if that was my holy grail of beer? I wouldn’t be able to just find another bottle at the corner store. I always managed to find those bottle while on long trips in a different state. Now, now thankfully I life in Lakewood which has the buckeye Beer Engine which as 1999 through current (think) ready to walk out the door with. So I finally brought myself to crack ’er open and to my surprise... carbonation remains! oxidization is almost non-existent. The pour was a nice dark murky brown with just a thin ring of foam around the outside. The brown color is nicely accented with a reddish hue on the shallower parts of the beer. This aroma has turned over more towards a naturally soft woody side with some good caramelized sugar notes and fruity scents. All the good dark ones too, dried strawberries, fig, raisin, and juicy plum sweetness. The flavor just blows my mind. It is very sweet, almost sugary, but it still works as a beer. It hold on to some malt aspects, but really it has all blended into this sweet, fruity, woody, vanilla-y masterpiece. What a wonderful experience. I think a vertical is needed to grasp the full potential of this bad boy.

Ruby brown, thin head. Aroma of dark fruit-rasini, plum, fig, along with molasses, bready malt, earthy. Taste is rich and complex, lots of dark fruit, leather, tobacco, molasses, mellow sweetness.

Bottle from Booths Ripon. Cloudy dark red brown with a sweet sugary warming red fruity flavour, leather and smoke with more sweetness on the finish.

275ml bottle from the 2006 crop. Pours out dark amber with zero head apart from a dozen or so bubbles. Wonderful toffee aroma. The taste moves through stages: first the deep caramel tones with added campfire hints, then the fruitiness (possibly aided by the ageing process) comes to the fore. It then gives a blast of heat before finishing on a few of those unfortunate cardboard notes. I notice the cardboard finish decreasing as the glass empties but I don’t have too many qualms about its presence; after all this is six years old now. Overall it’s a well-crafted barley wine but I think I’ll have to try a fresher one, as I suspect I’d enjoy it a little more.

VINTAGE 1987! Holy fuck was this a good beer. Pours a cloudy brown with a respetable off white head for a beer this age. Tons and TONS of huge floaties. Huge woody, nutty aroma. Pure bliss in the nose. Impressive taste. Very smooth, sweet, nutty, caramel, toffee. Amazing vintage. Tasted and smelled like a campfire. WORLD CLASS.

2006 edition.pours cloudy burgundy with quite a bit of sediment.has the appearance of apple cider.aroma is malty sweet with caramel and over ripe apples and pears with perhaps what i think might be nutmeg.flavor is very sweet.caramel,apples,pears raisins and nutmeg and the alchohol is very well hidden at 11.5 abv.has a oily mouthfeel and a long sweet finish.harvest ale is perfect description because this will definitly remind you of autumn.aroma is wonderful in this but then its all average from there.well hidden alchohol but it takes on almost a carmel apple pie flavor which for some might be pleasant,but for me is over the top sweet.if i had this in a two ounce pour as a dessert beer i think that would have been more fitting.glad i had it but i wont search it out again

2006 Vintage. Muddy cider-caramel with almost no head / Musty, nutty nose of cooked orchard fruit, caramel, and oak / Medium to full body, some astringency, sweet and malty but mellow, with good balance but very bitter finish / Flavor of apple cider, caramel, big tobacco, nut, grass, and oak / Score is very tentative as haven’t tried a more contemporary version of this 6 year old. It is a treat to try something this old.

The 2006 vintage. Ruby red to dark brown in colour with a weak head. Very vinous nose, grapey port-like aroma with a nutty, meaty background. Full bodied mouthfeel. The taste follows the aroma, nutty, grapey and port-like, with a slightly sour, meaty flavour in the finish.

Bottle - 2008 vintage sampled in 2012. Murky orange pour with a smaller white head and lots of sediment. Huge nose of caramel, sweet sugars, molasses, plum, and some booze. Full palate. Taste is sticky sweet sugars and fruits, with plenty of caramel malt. Really good stuff!

Vintage 2000. Sampled on 2/15/10. Poured into a snifter. Pours a thick, syrupy mahogany with a thin tan head on top. This disappears to just a ring around the edge. Little spotty lace. Scents of toffee, molasses, syrup, and wet wood. The body still retains a good amount of carbonation, but the finish is extremely smooth and warming. This is a very sweet beer after all these years. Big toffee and caramel notes. Sugary syrup finish. Sort of a chalky mouth on the back end. This is almost too sweet for me. It’s definitely a slow-sipper. Not a bad bottle to split among friends, and enjoy by the fire.

2008 bottle at home tasting, having tried 06 and 07 in the past. Murky amber/brown pour with barely any head and some sediment. Aroma dominated by sweetness with caramel, toffee and a little fruit. Flavour is the same, dominated by sweetness but in a nice way similar to a Stille Nacht with a few years on it. Full bodied with low carbonation. A really great beer.