Midnight Sun Arctic Devil Barley Wine

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

2005 vintage bottle shared by Jason. This is an awesome beer! Pours to a hazed over dark chestnut body with an ultra thin off-white head. The aroma is absolutely amazing. Flaked barley and super caramelized Maris Otter? Liquid toffee, caramel, perfect malts. The flavor is insanely caramelized toffee, clean barley, nice lingering muted hops. Very beautifully aged. I wonder what a fresh one would taste like. The palate is rich and creamy, aged sherry but every so slight. Sweet and full bodied.

Bomber courtesy of Sparky27. Powerful whiskey alohol hits the nose and will clear anyone with congestion. Also some wooden barrel and caramel and barley aromas on the nose. Dirty brown body with thin head. Flavor well the alcohol torches the palate but it calms down with good caramel malty finish. This is a beast, need an aprin before bedtime and sticky bready aftertaste. Thanks Eric.

22 oz bottle, via trade. Pours a clear mahogany brown body under a tight bubbled beige head that receded to a thin covering. The aroma is so rich and malty it’s amazing. Dark fruits, raisins, caramel, toffee, light alcohol, and a little port. Flavor is very rich as well, reminds me of decadent nougat candies. Heavy sweet caramel and toffee with a rich, slightly bourbon barrel finish. A good amount of alcohol, but enough risidual sweetness to balance it out, though it did get a bit too much by the end of the bottle. Mouthfeel is fairly thick and full bodied with a slightly sticky cloying finish. Very warming alcohol that actually tingled my gums a little. This was just sooo good. It escapes me how this could be 14% ABV. I would love to cellar some of this, cause I really think that it would hold up well to a good amount of oxidation.

Bottle shared with jerc, mabel, blankboy & HogTownHarry - courtesy of jerc & mabel. Murky mahogany with a medium beige head. Aroma is big, warm & sweet with notes of fruit, caramel & toffee. Full bodied. Flavour of dark brown sugar, maple syrup, some alcohol dryness, spicy and moderately bitter finish. Excellent!

22oz bottle, courtesy of acrdz. Thanks, Mike! Pours a dark, viscous amber-brown color; light khaki head with patchy, fine-bubbled lacing. Loads of dried dark fruits, brown sugar, and dense tea-infused maltiness in the aroma; warming alcohol (nothing rough) and dense, honey-like sweetness; very very nice, generous nose. Full, viscous mouthfeel: loads of honey, dried dark fruits, caramel, and warming alcohol; balancing earthy, general bitterness; very balanced and very drinkable stuff; an excellent barleywine. Lengthy finish: brown sugar, dry toasty malts, caramel, and dried dark fruits; a touch of vanilla. Excellent.

22oz bottle via trade with zathrus13 - thanks Jeff! - Pours copper with a short tan head that stays briefly but leaves nice lace. Good caramel, toffee, some raisin and light citrus in the aroma. Flavor is caramel, toffee, slight citrus, alcohol and some raisin.. Sweet and sticky on the palate with full body and low carbonation. A touch of alcohol on the finish but it is pretty well covered.. Nice brew!

2008 release; Sampled January 2009
Served at around 60°F / 15.6°C. The beer pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a three-finger thick, amber tinged, full tan colored head. The beer is a dark, concentrated amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, deep cranberry hue when held up to the light. The aroma first hits with sticky hop aromatics but is soon backed by a solid malt note. Up front there are notes of grapefruit zest and pine needles, but the sticky, candied malt character seems to slowly win out over the hop character. Malt aromatics of brown-sugar crusted raisins, toasted-toffee-glazed pastries, perhaps a hint of cherry notes and a light, toasted nut note that because of the sweet malt reminds me of candied nuts. The hop character is never totally subsumed by the malt, it seems to add a sort of green, sort of herbal vegetation type thing to the nose.

Very sweet and rich feeling, up front there is a solid herbal hop note as well as a reasonable bitterness in the finish, but this beer is really about the malt. Rich notes of toffee, brown sugar and a touch of cocoa along with a deep, toasted malt note make this quite the chewy beer. The finish has a bit of warm alcohol to it that along with the sweet malts reminds me a bit of a dark rum; the alcohol warmth is brought out by some spicy oak notes and there also seems to be a touch of vanillin noticeable underneath the sweet malt. There is a touch of toasted, not quite roasted grain here, it adds a touch of almost bitterness that couples with the astringency from the tannic oak, both of which provide some balance to the dominant sweet malt.

After noticing the oak in the flavor, I can now pick it up in the aroma; it adds a soft spiciness and probably exacerbates the green hop notes a bit as well. The hop character though seems to completely fade into the background after this has breathed for a bit; much of the sharp, un-integrated character was likely from the barrel, and it still is a bit jarring. Somehow, despite not being the most well integrated beer, this just oozes potential. Part of the charm of this beer for me is the fact that I can just see this aging so well.

I am disappointed in myself for not getting two bottles of this. The hop character in this fresh example are really a distraction, despite how slight they are (though they are magnified a bit by the sharp oak character), I want this beer to be all about the malt and I have the feeling that a bit of age will make this beer fantastic; the hops, and even the oak character should round out considerably and the beer should turn into heaven in a glass.

Bottle from Zinister at February Houston Tasting. Thanks, Mike! Pours a deep, thick, chunky amber with an aroma of bready raisin plumb coated with sugar. Flavor is butterscotch molasses raisin syrup. Thick and chewy mouthfeel. Fantastic. Would make for great sippin’ while watchin’ the Northern Lights.