Midnight Sun Arctic Devil Barley Wine

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

Bomber from Liquid Solutions. Nose of raisin pie, toffee, and a hint of molasses; really malty! Cloudy brown with a big, light cinnamon tan head. Flavor is toffee, dried prunes, and mild alcohol which lasts to the finish with a slight bitter hint!

Finally. 22oz bomber via trade with NYBeer, just got a vintage bottle of this, not sure of the vintage of this but I’m guessing its oldish as the trade happened in October. Shared with bikesandbeer and my girlfriend and others. Pours a dark dark brown with a tan head that started about 1 finger and faded to a partial ring. Nose is really really really heavenly. Its damn noserific, yes that makes no sense, but ok. Taste is big, very warm taste with lots of up front caramel. The flavors are various including a bit of vanilla, some dried fruits, and clearly lots of caramel. Alcohol is present, but in a barleywine I’m not really upset, it feels nice on the throat its a wonderfully yummy sipper. So yes I like this beer I’m so happy to finally drink it, now I need to get my hands on a bottle of M.

Vintage 2007; this one simply bursts with the potential to age, but it was simply too enticing on this cold night. Rich, murky mahogany pour. Varnish with a beige cream. Aroma eases into the richest of malts with soft creme brulee, moist gingerbread and rum bread pudding, nuanced by a bright cantaloupe and caramelized pear overtone that is at once relaxed and searingly assertive. Soy sauce with some musty cut grass and graham cracker lend some tangential saltiness and aged sentiment. Blasts of toffee and dirty barrel. This is an aroma to contemplate, thoroughly and slowly. Taste brings a stinging but soft bourbon quality of eggnog and tender vanilla, overlaying a syrup of strawberry, raspberry and watermelon seed; hot, but pleasantly so, with a lot of burnt sugar and raw barrel earthiness. So big, brash, and uncompromising in its impenetrable, pristine and artful collage of malt; cherry skins, caramel, toffee, dates. Full bodied, warm, and wet with the intimations of brandy and port barrels in the mouth, giving an understated and well placed scrape of soft carbonation on the back of the throat at the end; finishes warmly with a peppery, curtailed touch of alcohol in sherry form. An extraordinary, pleasingly malt dominant, careful, and quintessential example of this so often overkilled style. Glory. Thanks Tim!

Bomber shared with J-Nizz in the village...Saucenyyyyyyy. Defaaaanse!

Thanks a lot Tim for shipping this my way. Finally, a brew on my vacation that delivered!!!! Nose picked up sweet malts, plum, oak, caramel, toffee, warm booze. It came off a bit flat - which can be expected. Flavor was (very) sweet plum, boozy oak covered caramel with bourbon, wood, leather. Finish hung around for days - simply decadent! Mouthfeel was full bodied, sticky, bite-able . . . a real legit tonsil massage - timeless!!! This was barrel aged to perfection, it complimented rather than ripped apart the flavor. The bourbon compliment made this flow down the road of an artful masterpiece. I could have easily drank the whole bottle. If I lived up in Anchorage, this would be a staple in my diet...

2007 bomber, aged over one year. A small, foamy, camel-hair colored head settles in to a swirly film. Minimal, random lace spots hover above the dense and cloudy, caramel-brown body. Rich, malty, and inviting, the nose shows like a virtual dessert liquor of the highest quality. Velvety caramel and perfectly toasted toffee intertwine with subtle cocoa, while very figs and dates lend fruity depth. Gobs of vanilla stem from the oak barrel, which shows a sort of sherry-like presence in this beer, quite vinous and fruity. Flavors again show a decadent caramel-toffee and brown sugar malt base, with hints of cocoa bitterness and silky smooth, oaky vanilla. Earthen hops lend balance, while fruity sherry and fresh walnuts add complementary depth. There might be some hints of maple in there as well. The mouthfeel is big and rich, well carbonated and semi-dry on the finish. Despite the whopping 14% ABV, it drinks like a dream. Most barleywines tend to fall towards the malty English style or the American hop-bomb style. This one not only bridges the gap between the two wonderfully, it also brings in some fruity Belgian influence and enhances the triumvirate blend with a near perfect degree of barrel influence. This stuff is genre-bending and mind-blowing. Easily one of the best barleywines I’ve ever tried. Fantastic!

Bottle. Pours a reddish brown color, with a thick white head, and nice braids of lacing. Aroma is fairly boozy, with caramel, candy corn, and some chocolate in the end. Flavor is great, lots of caramel and toffee, roasted coffee, chocolate...delicious. Extremely tasty, nose is much more hot than the mouth. So good and smooth.

Pours deep, opaque mahogany with a ring of a cream colored head. Huge nose of deep fruits, toffee, molasses, alcohol and barrel. Flavor about as big as the nose, with lots of heat standing out, but subsiding to let through the dried fruits, toffee and cognac like flavors. Creamy on the palate. Huge beer.

07 bottle thanks to NYbeer, thanks Stephen! Poured a deep caramel-amber color with a thin beige head that diminished to a ring. Aroma of sweet caramel malt and light citrus zest. Smooth, sweet caramel malts with flavors of molasses, and brown sugar leads into a slightly bitter, fruity finish with light citrus and a earthy hoppiness along with a drying oak finish. Smooth and thick on the palate with a nice drying character. Very good beer, thanks again Stephen.