Legend Barleywine (through 2008)

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

Serve in Snifter

Late 2007 vintage. Courtesy hopscotch. Pours a murky brown, with a light off white head. Smells of some lactic acid, sweet dark fruits, and caramel malt. The flavor is much the same, decent little alcohol burn, along with pretty sweet caramel malt and apple fruits. Pretty standard for a barleywine although I didnt get as much bready yeast flavors as I normally do with this style. Pretty good.

Bottle smuggled back from VA over christmas. Reddish brown color with a thick tan head that doesn’t quit. Aroma of plum and licorice. Finish is sweet. Flavor has fruit, caramel and a slight chalk/chocolate characteristic towards the end. Would like to see the hops a little more pronounced here. You get the nutty characteristics from the oak aging. This is a decent barleywine but would like to see the sweetness toned down a bit. Pretty complex that would probably do well to sit and chill for a year or two.

Late vintage 2007. Bottle from dkachur, thanks, Dan! Reddish brown color. Vinous aroma with grape juice, banana, plastic and rubber. Full bodied. Sweet, malty flavor with rubber, banana, grapes, apricot. A bit like cheap plum brandy. Flowery and citric hopbitterness reveal themselves in the aftertaste. Could be better, although the complexity is there.

Bottle, thanks to alexanderj. Clear ruby pour with head that dimished rapidly. Aroma is sugar, sweet caramel / fruit, some alcohol, nuttiness. The flavor is the same, very sweet overall, and probably like drinking some carbonated wort. Enjoyed it though.

Late Vintage 2007- makes sense since this was very new, and pretty hot. Big Thanks to Golubj for sharing this at Captain Lawrence tonight. Sorry there werent more people to partake. Pours a very bright clear amber with a fizzy head, but diminishes to almost no head. Aroma is hot with alcohol- a bit green with some acetaldehyde, thcik sweet candied / stewed malts- caramel, sharp sweetness, almost fruity. Flavor is a bit dirty, some yeast character, lots of fruity esters, caramel malts, sharp toffee and sugary sweet all around. As it warms more alcohol and a bit of fusels come through. Probably needs at least a year to age. Cool find though- I didnt know Legend even had a BW!

Late 2007 batch. Pours an attractive chestnut-brown with a thin head. Head soon drops but leaves a persistent ring. Complex aroma of caramel, raisons, plums and a light detectable alcohol. The taste matches the aroma; caramel maltiness, dark fruits like figs and plums. There’s a light hoppiness in the background. The mouth feel is smooth with a light carbonation. This barleywine leans towards the English style rather than the high-hopped American versions. Very nice.

22oz (late 2007 bottling) from Once Upon a Vine, Richmond. Kind of a strange barleywine. Certainly looks quite nice, deep amber/russet with a nice glow to it and decent carbo. The nose is pure maple syrup, unexpected but not unappealing on a frigid night. Some hops come across right away, submerged quickly by that fruity yeast that characterizes a lot of Legend beers. Sorta all over the place but, I dunno, I kind of dig it.

22oz bottle acquired in trade with The_Beer_God. 2006 Vintage. Poured a deep amber color with an averaged sized off whtie head. Lots of suspended floaties. Aromas of dark fruits, caramel, chcoclate, and fruity. Tastes of toffee, raisins, plums, citrus, caramel, chocolate, and roast. On the sweeter side. Overall the alcohol was well hidden.