4.2 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20Single bottle found at Cable Beverage, Nanuet, NY. I may also have had this on tap back during the Spring of 2012 at the Blind Tiger in Manhattan. When I found this at Cable Beverage though I wasn’t sure if it was a British or American barleywine. I almost never drink American barleywines as I don’t care to mix my beloved DIPAs with my beloved British barleywines. (American barleywines are usually hopped up compared to the British.)
So it was a very pleasant surprise to open this bottle and find that it was only moderately hoppy. The head was only about an inch deep and dissipated fairly quickly. Lacing on the glass was slight to say the least but I have no problem with that.
The smell -- molasses, raisins, dark fruit. The taste -- molasses, slightly sweet...just the right amount of sweetness to make it welcome as a dessert or after dinner beer or a nice mid-afternoon refresher.
Was there some real age on this bottle to make it less hoppy and thus more pleasant? I don’t know. I do know that I want to get some more and open my mind to more American barleywines. This was a real pleasant surprise and I’m glad I found it.
3.6 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle. 5/25/13. Pours a deep translucent ruby color with a very thin white head. Aroma is bread, dark fruit, spice, vanilla, yeast, caramel, toffee. Taste is crisp, fresh; alcohol, dark fruit, vanilla, earth, wood, lots of malt with a hint of citrus; finish is leather and fruit rind. No lacing. Mouth feel is big, rich, chewy. Medium carbonation; aggressive bubbles. Really high quality. Strong; though alcohol is considerably well-hidden.
4.3 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 16/20
Aroma is deep, malty, and toasty. Pours clear dark orange with a creamy head. Deeply flavored with strong malt aftertaste, goes down thick and creamy.
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 19/20
2011 vintage, cellar temp. Incredible coca notes with sweet fruits and caramel. Spicy citrus with a milk chocolate flavor, ends with a sweet malt finish. One of my personal favorites; age worthy and always complex.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
On tap at Taps in Petaluma. Pours a reddy dark brown color. Strong malt and a bit of a harsh taste with it.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Location: Draft at Blind Tiger, 4/8/13
Aroma: The nose is heavy malty, sweet, a bit fruity, and with some boozy notes as well
Appearance: It pours a dark reddish-brown color with a beige head and some light lace
Flavor: The taste is also plus sweet/malty with plenty of booze, similar to nose
Palate: The body is medium-full, it is fairly thick on the mouth, and finishes a bit warming
Overall Impression:
This wasn’t a favorite for me. It isn’t a bad beer, but it certainly isn’t a standout Barley Wine. Decent describes this one pretty well.
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 16/20
I couldn’t tell if I was pouring beer into a pint glass or oil into my car’s engine. Pours a murky deep amber color with a big, fat, fluffy, light tan head. The head kept growing even after I’d finished my pour. I was worried I’d gotten too aggressive and that my desk next to my keyboard was going to be sticky for a while.
Toffee, brown sugar, and cinnamon rolls on the nose. A thick, slick liquid swells in your mouth with the first pull. A lot of sweet stuff in there. Not enough alcohol flavor or warmth to account for the 11% ABV. There is a bit of tartness that cuts the sweet explosion. The tartness, mind you, is the same you’d get from a sweet cherry sucker and not from an unripe banana or a grapefruit. My only criticism is that it finishes a little too quickly. Once it does finish, there’s a bit of bitter alcohol that remains on the tongue. Not bad though.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
10.8% ABV, vintage unknown. Pours muddy light brown with a super tiny ring of fizz. Smells like caramel, citrus, and zesty. Taste is cloyingly sweet with a strange spice-like character. Medium-to-full bodied with a slick, wet texture and virtually no mouth-carbonation, Mad River John Barleycorn finishes with an excess sweetness tingle across the tongue.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
2011 bottle vintage. Average barley wine here. Didn’t have the awe inspiring booze and malt aspects.
4 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle. 2004 vintage. Notes from tasting session. Light brown. Very malty and sweet.This might be better in about two year.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Head: off white, creamy, medium size
Colour: very dark redish brown, a bit like a rodenbach but darker
Smell: boozey, caramel, candy sirup, a slight touch of banana, quite herbal and a touch of anise
Taste: start is quite bitter and herbal, a little touch of chemical alcohol, not that much sweetness to be honest ( what i do expect in a barley wine ), not too much else going around, not bad but certainly not exciting in my eyes, but well , i tried ! and that’s the only way to know if you like a beer or not :-)
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