Magic Hat Chaotic Chemistry

Brewed by Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
South Burlington, Vermont USA

20$ Bottle? It was worth every penny. Murky brown in color with a little tan head. Maple syrup, Vanilla like aroma. Sweet and syrupy flavor. Vanilla notes. Wow. Enjoyable beer.

$20 bottle? Murky brown, fading to 0 tan head. Big brown sugga/maple syrup aroma. Flavor is sweet and syrupy, with maple and smartie flavors going on. The barrel influence really impacted this beer. Rather a fun brew to sample.

750ml bottle, Batch #2: This one has a slightly murky copper color. There was almost no head and carbonation to match. The aroma is somewhat sweet, with cherries, plums and raisins. The taste has some caramel malts, fruits, and a twinge of sweetness. There is also a slightle oaky taste and port-like quality to the taste. Very Good!

The botle was nice. I realy wanted to like this beer and rate it high but I can’t because, frankly, it sucked. Pale orange amber pour with a small head. Not much smell and the taste is overwhelmingly alcohol with a hint of caramel thrown in. I don’t mind strong beers, but I don’t want to feel like I’m drinking flavored rubbing alcohol. Bonus points because it looks pretty.

Brownish amber pour with a thin white head. Aroma of maple sugar. Flavor of hops, wood, sugar and alcohol. The body is light with a liquorous texture and soft carbonation. Previous rating : 5/3/5/3/12/2.8.

"to be enjoyed in it’s prime," says the blurb around the label, "please enjoy within a year." ...as this was bottled on 1/1/04, I must say it is time, is it not? Batch 2/ bottle 1554. POP...it’s a dark orangey hue, with little head to offer, busy carbonation, jetsoms and flotsoms rising up high... Nose is big, bold, fruity, citric, slightly sour, but thick with malt, ...surprisingly smooth taste, massive sweetness, maple-y flavor, woody, and very mellow. Surprisingly so,for the alcohol, I expected a bigger burn, but the age,perhaps, has cooled it. Menacingly subdued character, it slips in almost too easily, but carries a naked potency that shows it’s colors after time...whiskey is very clear in the flavor, with hints of vanilla, tangy and tasty, but modest and restrained. Quite nice, this, a classy barleywine, the lampshade’s on, but the coattails are tucked in, and the pinkie gets raised with every sip. it buries it’s fire under layers of oak, smoke, and cherry, but the fury is nonetheless there...it’s a fearsome power, though, that has it’s hat on straight, it walks in with a steady gait, very sophisticated, always a bit moreso than you expect, tipping against the expectations, for this is far less chaotic than imagined, despite the name. I like this very much, and wish I could enjoy it more, rather than once in a lifetime.

Impressive bubblegum bouquet with parsley up high and brandy down low. alcohol washes around it all and is warming. A hoppy resinous surface. Impressive. Lightly creamy feel -- yeah.

To get it over with right upfront, this absolutely sucked. Clear auburn. Nice nose, sugary-powdery nose, some nice maple syrup and toffee. Starts off OK, bit toffee sweet, then goes downhill rapidly and begins plummeting quite energetically. After the initial sweet a truly horrific wood grain alcohol comes charging along and barrels its unpleasant way down the throat. Just hot and burning stuff, possibly the worst-masked strong ABV beverage I’ve ever encountered. Frankly, tastes like somebody dropped a shot of disgustingly cheap liquor into a so-so barleywine. Tragically, due to the fact it actually had a nice aroma, this winds up not being my lowest-rated barleywine. Don’t you worry, ol’ lousy Lakefront Beer Line, while you’re actually rated slightly lower than Craptastic Chemistry take heart that Magic Hat’s entry into the world of barleywines is unquestionably the worst barleywine I’ve ever gotten within a hundred feet of.