Magic Hat Chaotic Chemistry

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

Hazy amber brown body. Sweet donut aroma with light apple/cherry. Citric orange and leaf bitterness along with a thin pale malt backing. Nicely mellowed out flavor but not that interesting.

Thanks to JpDipso for opening this. Pours a murky golden color, small off white head. Aroma is citrusy hops, piney resiouny. Flavor is sharp, hoppy with a mild alcohol kick. Sweet, apple, other fruits. Tasty.

750 ml bottle, thanks to slob for the trade. Pours clear reddish amber with a small off-white head. Sweet aroma, with oak, maple, vanilla and lots of dark fruitiness. Flavor is sweet and woody, oak and fruity malts, hay, vanilla and somewhat dry with quite evident alcohol. Medium body and gentle carbonation.

Thanks to JPDIPSO for the opportunity! Bottled 1/1/04. Poured a medium caramel with a short off-white head. Smooth caramel and toffee malts paired with some rum-soaked raisins and smoke in the delectable nose. Flavor lost some depth to the extreme length in the barrels, unfortunately... dark berries, toffee, and dried fruits remain, but the rest is lost to bourbon and other hot alcohols. OK on the palate... but the carbonation was a tad low and the alcohol really took off. Very gracious for the opportunity! Thanks, John.

Mostly hazy and caramel orange in color with a few bubbles making up the head. Honey nectar professes a hot aromatic alcohol containment. Brandy and oak pump out a slight rye suggestion, partnering soon thereafter with wafts of clover and orange blossoms. Hot alcohol proceeds in the expected flavor fashion with a scotchy forecast. Maybe it spent too much time in the barrel. Whisky and rye is a passing sentiment, because it’s more like a brandy manhattan with some spring water to smooth it out. Butterscotch hints at diacetyle, and dollar store hard candies doesn’t bespeak of crafted aging. Ruddy diacetylic finish with buttery caramels and scotch laden surfactants. Glad to have had it, nonetheless. Thanks, JPDIPSO!

Batch 2, Bottle 634. The beer pours to a caramel colored body that’s semi-transluscent. The aroma smells of Maris Otter and brandy. Some bourbon notes, but the extreme aging seems to have mellowed the barrel aging. The flavor is one-dimensional with its malt and light bourbon notes. But, still, I like that in this. The palate is medium bodied.

a deep copperish color w/ a tiny whisp of off white head. Very mild aroma for a barley wine some light pine bitterness full carmel back w/ some light touches of wood and bourbon notes very balanced aroma. Palate is full and well coated very smooth. Flavor is a little hot alcohol shows through in the bourbon notes, some wood tastes good amount of spiced hops and a nice even carmel sweet. Again still very balanced. A good BW.

2004 bottle: Pours orangey red with almost no head. Smells of cognac and hoppy with somewhat of a malty caramel profile. Tasre is sugary with some fruit and spice elements. Nothing in this was even or balanced.