Legend Barleywine (through 2008)

Formerly brewed at Legend Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Richmond, Virginia USA

Serve in Snifter

At Legend Brewing -- I have to say, give this brew (2006 brew) six to twelve months and it will be awesome. Great mahogony body with a small tan head. Nice fruity aroma, malt backbone is evident. Good body, smooth palate, hops and alcohol dominate. Semi-dry ending. This beer has a lot of potential.

22 oz. Bottle. 2006 vintage. Pretty decent barleywine. For 11.5% there isn’t much of an alcohol taste. Smooth finish.

Bottle 2006... Hazy, orange ale with a small, creamy, khaki head. Good retention. The perfumey nose offers additional notes of caramel, light smoke and wet leather. Rich, malty-medicinal flavor of caramel and cough syrup with lots of alcohol and hop bitterness. Full-bodied and sticky with medium carbonation. Finishes sweet, then heavily bitter and "red hot" with alcohol. Wow, this is a powerful brew... almost too much so. Set one of these aside for a year or two and let’s see what happens.

2006 vintage. A sticky, syrupy mess of a barleywine. I can’t understand any reference to balance with regard to this offering. The extreme alcohol sits right up front on the nose like the stink of Aristocrat vodka. Just below the fog of alcohol lies a flat aroma of stale tobacco and sweet brandied prunes. Prunes and raisins dominate the palate with dark brown sugar, spent tea leaves, cherry, and leather trailing in the midpalate. The finish lacks inspiration with just barely a whisper hop bitterness to speak of and hyper-saturated sugars building potency with each sip. Once again, out of balance.

Great barleywine. Aroma of dark fruits, slight alcohol presence and a hint of hops. Taste is much of the same. The alcohol is slightly present in the taste, but is otherwise disguised very well.

Pour was a dark reddish color with a tan head. Aroma was of dark fruits (fig, plum dates), caramel malts, and a note of hops. Flavor was sweet caramel malts with just the slightest touch of hops. This was all finished off with a smooth alcohol warming (not much).

Pours dark red-orange with a large, thick, white head. Very fruity aroma--fig, plum, and a hint of apple. There’s also some toffee-ish sweetness, light earthiness, and a hint of hops. Very sweet malty flavor, almost like an English Barley Wine, just slightly hoppier. The alcohol is present, but adds somewhat to the flavor. The finish is excellent, with some dry tobacco and smoke flavors. Thick and creamy. Very good.

Bottle. Brown, small head. Aromas of dark fruits, sweet malts, caramel, and fig. Nice flavor! Stars clean, followed by a slight malty figgish flavor, which is followed by a nice mouthful of alcohol... then finishes smoothly. LOVE the lack of alcohol in the finish- really appreciate it in the middle. Good stuff!