Mendocino Imperial Barley Wine

Brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company (United Breweries Group)
Style: Barley Wine
Hopland, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle from Total Wine, Henderson, NV
Dark color, amber- mahogany, hazy, with creamy persistent head. It has a nice aroma of malt, sweet, with some caramel. Full bodied, malty, sweet, with light toffee and fudge character; correct bitterness.
Straightforward, balanced, pleasant, not complex; the aroma is better than the final.

Date: October 18, 2011
Mode: Bottle
Source: Hop City, Atlanta
Appearance: opaque dark amber, scant head
Aroma: sweet fruity aroma, caramel sweetness, light earthyness
Flavor: rich malt flavor, brown sugar sweetness, lots of earthyness, fair amount of young green bitterness, hint of fusel alcohol
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ** /4

12oz bottle. Small beige head atop clear amber body. Aroma is moderately sweet, cherry, some caramel. Taste is sweet, cherry, booze, some astringent. Sticky full body.

Bottle from Total Wine in Roseville, CA. Pours dark amber with a rapidly reducing tan head. Rich malty aroma with some dark fruit notes. Flavor is brown sugar with some anise. Perhaps a bit of hop, but it’s definitely not bitter. I’d say its rather sherryish right now, to include the unthickness of the body. Wowser.

Bottle.Poured clear ruby color with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Moderate to heavy earthy dark fruit aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy bittersweet flavor with a medium complex bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. My expectations where exceeded.

Bottle poured a clear dark reddish brown with a small lingering tan head. Aromas of molasses, prunes, raisin, earthiness and light toffee. Palate was medium to full bodied and smooth with a lightyly warming finish. Flavors of molasses, prunes, raisin, toffee and light eartyhiness with a smooth lightly warming lingering molasses finish.

Another big beer for my birthday. Boozy aroma. Brown, with a wisp of a head. A big caramel that grows on me, more of an English barleywine. 2011 version so maybe hops have faded. Boozy finish and a meal in itself.Thanks for bringing Stephen.

Bottle: Pours a transparent deep copper with a stringy-lacing off-white head. Has a sweet toasty caramel malty nose with a fresh piny hop character. Starts with pretty good fullness and toasty caramel sweetness with a nice balance of assertive hoppy bitterness before a slightly warming bittersweet finish. A pretty true to style American barley wine.

bottle. dark burgundy. nose is straight caramel malt and alcohol with light notes of soggy cardboard (oxidized already or am I this sensitive?) and a faint yeast character that comes across as earthy salt and pepper. overtly syrupy, but that’s expected. the medium+ sweetness tempers the alcohol somewhat, while the hops are present but lifeless (dry + bitter but contribute little flavor). probably a barley wine that most people will enjoy, but I honestly could go the rest of my life without drinking another.

Bottle from State Line. Pours a great ruby deep caramel shade, clear but beckoning, with 1-finger frothy off-white head. Nose reminds me of Insanity; a damned mess but powerful enough to let you know that your tongue, olfactory glands, renal tubules, and ureter are in for a major tussle. The nose is harsh, with caramel malt, huge resiny hops, some fruit,, fusels that lend a spirity air. The taste is rich, hot from the beginning, hoppy, a bit like Dogfish 90 minute mixed with Avery Hog Heaven,, and some honey and heavy bourbon notes late. Alcohol here is heavy and not hidden at all, not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but here the heat takes over at the expense of balance somewhat. This is a very good BW, but I do not think it would go near the top of a blind tasting.