Legend Barleywine (2009 and later)

Brewed by Legend Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Richmond, Virginia USA

Serve in Snifter

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Sweetgolden, cloudy, minimal head, heavy cloying sweetness, medium body, creamy, long finish,

On draft at the Mad Fox Barley Wine Festival, Falls Church VA. Vintage 2011. Pours a cloudy amber with a creamy off white head. Caramel and honey in the nose. Sweet candy sugar, caramel, and raisin flavors. High alcohol level pretty well hidden in the sweetness. An excellent barley wine.

12oz bottle via trade. Poured a good looking super dark brown body with a smller mocha beige foamy head. Aroma is very sweet with notes of figs, raisins, mollasses, slight touch of nut, alcohol. Great syrupy mouthfeel that is almost chewy with big carbonation and a long lingering burn that lasts and lasts. Flavor isn’t quite as sweet as the aroma, notes of raisin and fig along with dry breaad, nuts, molassas and old caramel. Good stuff.

From the bottled poured a cloudy brown brew with a thin beige head. Malty sweet aroma. Full bodied, very sweet, and a pleasant hoppy finish.

On tap 4 oz. pour at Lost Dog Cafe in McLean, VA. This is most likely the 2012 version. Clear-but so dark it is almost opaque--burgundy-brown with small khaki head and fair lacing. Head does not linger. Aroma of sweet malt, caramel, toffee and dark fruit. Taste of dark fruit, cherry, sweet roasted malt, toffee and alcohol. Full body and medium/high carbonation with foamy mouthfeel. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Aromas of raspberries, cherries, blackberries, black cherries, and cola, with a subtle nuance of vanilla. Appearance is almost black, with purplish tint, and off-white/light tan head foam. Taste is quite sweet and fruity, with flavors similar to Australian Shiraz, with slight notes of nuts and toffee, and a booze-driven spiciness. A plump, lively carbonated beer, fruity and boozy with very slight hop prevalence, and an off-dry, fruity, lingering finish. Attests very well (as I can only imagine) to the old English standard that beers can be crafted, absolutely, in order to sit side-by-side with complex European wines.

Bottle Vintage 2009 at The Barley Wine Tasting, London - many thanks to Kenny. Pours orange-ruby, lightly hazy, with a fine, off-white cream head. Lots of caramel on the nose, some wet pine. Big sweet flavor with tons of toasty sugar, berries, gingerbread, orange, alcohol, light spicy pine. Full bodied with fine carbonation. Warm ginish with lots of caramel, moderate spices, subtle piney bitterness, toasted sugars. Drinks very well for the ABV and has an interesting spice aspect. Good one.

31st August 2012
THE Barleywine tasting. 15.3% 2009 version. Very hazy red-brown beer, decent bubbly tan head. Light palate, a little dry. Soft and airy. Inevitably a little aniseed alcohol but not too much. Mild toffee and dried fruits. Very mild - barely there - hops. Semi dry finish. Overall pretty light for it’s abv, just a mild warmth.

Pours deep mahogany brown with medium tan head.  Smell is sugar crystals, toffee, dark fruits, booze.  Taste is not as nice as the smell.  Boozy sugary toffee, sugar plums, more booze.  Big slow sipper with lots of depth. Nice dead of winter barley wine. 

Bottle @ THE Barley Wine Tasting. Massive thanks to Ken for bringing this behemoth to our battle of the barley wines. The pour’s deep reddish brown with a small white head. The nose is suprisingly floral, hoppy. Some warm wood, boozy barrel. The taste is sweet bearclaw donut. Runny sweet toffee malt flavors, some cocoa and cherry. Chocolate. Boozy lightly dry woody finish. Fulll body, big beer. To be honest, I’m quite impressed by how this beer carries the ABV. It’s not overbearing. A fine sipper.