Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

Brewed by Lagunitas Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Petaluma, California USA

22 oz. bottle. Pours a beautiful ruby color with nice creme-colored frothy head which lingers with good lacing. Smell is of molasses, root, alcohol. Tastes is of strong burnt-sugar malt with alcohol on the finish. I like and drink alot of big beers, but the alcohol was too conspicuous here. Still an enjoyable brew.

22oz. Pours a clear light-medium amber darkening in glass to a deep amber. Thin white head, some retention, minor lacing. Dominant hop aroma, light sweetness, well balanced. Initial strong bitterness, hoppy vegetable aroma, sweet as hell and a light salty finish. Bold body, high syrupy textureness, low carbonation.

Bomber (2010) into a pint glass. The pour is pumpkin orange with a small off-white head. The aroma is hops upfront, the earthy, spicy, and vegetal type. There is also a touch of alcohol and an unsettling type of food in there. The flavor is sweet with another unsettling amount of salty food, almost like barbecue... not loving this... and it’s combined with the fruitiness of the hops... this is a strange cat.

22oz bomber. Clear, light copper pour with a tan, clinging, lacing-leaving head. Aroma of caramel, roasted malts, hint of milk chocolate, toffee and alcohol. Flavor is syrupy sweet, carmel, biscuit, slightly alcoholic and mild floral hops. Slick mouthfeel, mild carbonation and a medium body. Mild malt sweetness followed by a slight citrus hop finish. Alcohol present from beginning to end. Good availability to quality to cost ratio.

Thanks to Madvike for this. Bottle cellared for about a year. Pours a clear dark copper tinted brown. Sweet aromas of chocolate toffee, caramel, apple, maple, brown sugar, vanilla and maybe a plum. Flavors are well blended but there is a dominance of sweetness and bread notes. A solid barley wine for the price, I enjoyed it.

2010 Vintage, January 28, 2010: Dark copper color with a large head. Strong citrusy hop aroma. Big caramel malts and fruitiness, mostly apple. Sweet fruit taste (again, mostly apple). Caramel. An odd light vegetable taste, maybe from the hops. On the high end of the bitterness spectrum for barley wines.

Clear red brown pour with a thin light tan head. Sweet malty aroma with bready grain. Sweet malt flavor with a deep caramel finish. Alcohol and and some hops linger on the tongue.

Ugh, sickly sweet, unhopped mess of a caramel bomb. Finishes thin with lingering gross sweetness.