Mad River John Barleycorn

Brewed by Mad River Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Blue Lake, California USA

Nice barley wine that is not overly sweet. Good alc balance. Nice aroma of freash hops, carmel. The tast is spicy with a slight bit of citrus. Holbe the hopy finish. It is a bit grassy and bitter from the Perle.

07 vintage. Pours red with a creamy disappearing off white head. The aroma is rich with caramel, toffee sweetness and some plum, pineapple. The flavor is nice with more of the same along with brown sugar, honey, and spice. Nicely balanced hop bitterness at the end. I think the two years of age have done this beer wonders.

hazy dark brown with a small fluffy head. nice malty and hoppy nose. very good barley wine taste... nice balance between caramel malt and hop flavor. some fruity notes. nice finish.

12 oz bottle Market of Choice. Poured a deep reddish brown with a thick cap of off white head and sticky lacing. Aroma was caramel, oranges, raisins and other dark fruit and brown sugar. Flavor was caramel, dark fruit and earthy hop notes. Average barleywine, but definitely enjoyable enough.

Dark ruby, medium sized beige head. Aroma of toffee, floral hops, cherries and honey. Taste is sweet with hop balance. Finishes with roast malt and alcohol.

12 oz twist off bottle purchased at Zipps in Minneapolis, Minnesota for me by my Dad. Celebrating the harvest 2008, on the label. Pour is a murky orange, brown and golden color with a one and a half inch tan head. Head is well formed, and quite lasting. When it eventually falls, it left behind nice lacing. Pretty beer. Aroma of sweet caramel and gentle baking brown sugar, some faint but full orange fruit in there as well. Engaging nose, full and soft at the same time. Perhaps a tad too one dimensional with the malt sweetness, but it is a Barley Wine after all. Taste is the caramel sweetness up front, with an earthiness that was not present in the nose. Rather than enhancing, the earth detracts some, coming across as a bit dirty. The dirtiness fades as it warms. Behind the caramel is the orange fruit of the nose, and it carries through to the finish which has a bunch of dry grass and straw, which was even more pronounced as the beer approached room temperature. The aftertaste has a bit of alcohol heat. The baking brown sugar of the nose is nowhere to be found in the taste. Palate is medium, above average carbonation for a barley wine, and a bone dry finish. Extra point for coming in a 12 oz bottle, was a good size for this beer. This was nice, though I was expecting something a bit softer tasting from the nose.

Big bad-ass grainy, caramely hoppy barleywine!!! Very alcoholic and not for wimps! Boiling hop resins dominate and the grains plow through. Aptly named. For the price it is superb! If allowed to age and it mellowed a bit would be fantastic!

The starts off with a twist top cap. Classy. The beer pours a dark clear brown. The aroma is of brown sugar and rasins - very nice; almost Belgian dubbel in smell. After taking the first sip, these same smells are the taste of the beer. After being in the mouth for just a second, a nice bitterness develops. And, then lingers a bit too strong. Great beer to sip.