Midnight Sun Arctic Devil Barley Wine

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Bottle; a color of dark reddish bown. Aroma was very doughy; caramel, fruit, dark fruit, brown sugar and earth/wood as well. Flavor was equally as awesome. Doughy malt, caramel, fruit and brown sugar. Some dark fruit as well. Even better than I expected. Enjoyable palate. This is an exemplary beer. Best beer of the tasting so far (Jon’s house tasting).

22oz. Bottle (10% ABV): Aroma of malts, caramel, brown sugar, dark ripe fruits, raisins, light tobacco, oak, and a hint of alcohol. Poured brown/ruby/amber in color with a medium-sized, creamy, dense, light brown head that diminished but lasted throughout. Cloudy. Sparkling. Full of medium and large-sized particles throughout. Highly complex flavor is heavily sweet. Tastes of malts, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, tobacco, dark ripe fruits, oak, light vanilla, slight alcohol, and a hint of cinnamon. Medium to full body. Viscous, coating, texture. Average carbonation. Sweet, malt, brown sugar, oak, tobacco, dark ripe fruit, and light alcohol finish. A very nice barley wine. 10%ABV is noticeable but well hidden.

Pour is a rusty red with a nice beige top. Aroma of sweet fruit, malt, grain, oak and alcohol. Pretty sweet with dark fruit and malt. Get some dry oak and booze also. Full bodied and a good beer.

[Bottle, thanks Guerde!] Pours very murky (despite it sitting for a long time) reddish-brown with a tiny light beige head. Aroma is sweet and rich--caramel, marzipan, oak, coca-cola (which Guerde noticed), whiskey (quite a bit), notes of coconut, and hints of port. The taste is sweet up front, but quite boozy, along with nuttiness, strong malt (lightly malted towards the end), whiskey and port again, and strawberry jam. Fairly thick mouthfeel, quite smooth, long, semi-dry finish. Very nice, and changes from glass to glass in the same bottle. I would have preferred more port and less whiskey, but overall a great beer. Thanks again, Andy!

22oz bottle at our Monday tasting. Pours a burnt brown with a super thick foamy head. Nose is massive brown sugar and bourbon. Huge amounts of sweet malt and figs. Amazing smelling beer. Flavor is very sweet, lots of residual sugar but its quite balanced for a malt forward barley wine. The hops are there enough to keep it from being cloying. Caramel covered raisins dominate the flavor. Finishes is long on bourbon and has a decent amount of burn. The alcohol is not well hidden at all. Bottle was marked as 10% but 14% seems more like it. In this style its fine though. Complex with lots of malt characterisitics battling amongst dark fruits and caramel as well as the bourbon from the barrel. It all comes together in an absolutely stunning example of the style. The english would be proud. It was our favorite of the night.

Original review date 5/22/2009...I have sat on this one wayyy too long but it’s time. I think the Portsmouth snifter is the proper vessel for this deal. There’s a ginger head that’s about 1/2 finger and goes quickly. The body is flat milk chocolate/turbid coffee brown. Color is a little like a cherrywood-ish dunkel. This is a classic maltbomb barleywine going on. It is pure vanilla sticky sweet with some booziness and some earthy caramel malt - the heavy stuff. Very much a peanut brittle texture. Hop profile is on deep background and I fault nobody for this - it’s a creamy old-school barleywine. Wicked solid. I don’t really encounter beers made this way anymore and that’s my fault, but this one reminds me of a more robust version of backburner, which I enjoy immensely...but this one is without the apple (fault?) texture. Lots of vanilla and oak...maybe some hop pine but the star is some incredible rich, sweet and comforting velvety dark caramel maltiness. The booze on this reminds me of a couple of bourbon barrels - the color morphs into a dark bourbon after a while...it mixes into the whole effort and doesn’t offend. Palate feel matches nose and palate on this one. It’s deep, dark and malty but it doesn’t overpower. The oak in here actually soothes the booziness nicely and relaxes the palate after a while. It brings a bit of bourbon to the game to make it interesting. This sips much nicer than your average bear in the weight class. It has bench strength and depth. Enough hops to intrigue. Excellent.

Bottle. My third barleywine in a row. Probably my favorite of the group. Pours dark amber brown. Minimal head. Aroma of vanilla, malt. Flavor is sweet, lots of alcohol

bomber form sparky27 methinks... a dark nutty brown pour produces no head. the nose is full of sweet grain, malt powder, vanilla, white raisins, chocolate and some vitamin pills which comes from the barrels. the flavor profile matches the aroma almost exactly... with the exception of a few things.... a cloying sweetness and a big ol’ dose of alcohol burn which lends a bitterness on the finish (though it is not nearly enough to counter the amazing amount of sugars). the body is definitely thick with a syrupy unpleasant mouth feel... not my cup of beer though i can see why some folk dig it...8/4/7/2/15/3.6