New Holland Existential Hopwine

Brewed by New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Holland, Michigan USA

Large tan head, excellent retention and a nice lace. Color is amber with good clarity. Malty, citrusy, piney nose, hints of purina dog chow and a touch of bread to boot. Body is full, oily on the palate with a big malt presence. Pine, caramel notes are a bit sweet, minty light alcohol notes, butterscotch and a bit of astringency. Finish is lightly sweet and fruity. Thanks santa!

Looks good. Smells good. Tastes good. What’s that Coolio? Tastes good. Rich, sweet, hoppy and bitter. A very good example of style - a brash american barley wine. But on the whole does not stand out.

Poured a lightly hazed amber color with an off-white head. Sweet browned apple aroma with some hops floating around in there. The flavor had a sweet start with a big spicy and alcohol finish. Moderately bitter with a dry finish. Medium-full bodied and warming.

On draft at Smokin Joes in Pittsburgh’s South Side. Huge beer, drank a third and felt like I had just drank three. Super sweet and syrupy like. Their is some fruit character with some hops that kick you in the a**.

These seem to be a bit inconsistant. Have drank 3 in the last week, 1 great bottle 2 not so great. Going with a rating down the middle. decent caramel up front, with some earthy pine background. Flavor on par, caramel, toffee, oxidaion, pine, with a spicy hop finish. Syruppy smooth mouthfeel. Like I said depends on the bottle so far.

Bottle shared by slob. Pour is amber to orange in color, nice steady off-white colored head, good retention, nice splotchy lacing. The nose is citrus, pine, maple, tea bags. Flavor picks up where the aroma left off, some brown sugar also in there. Turns a little sticky with warmer temperatures (even some butterscotch, as Bert noted first), and the alcohol comes on, but overall a nice bwine. Perhaps the best NH brew I’ve had to date. Thanks, Bert!

Wow, what a coincidence I opened this right after WeeHeavy. I have had this bottle since July 2007 I think. I always write on my bottles who I got it from, but this one is from one of my early trades, so I didn’t write it down. I figure it’s a barleywine, so I put off drinking it, and drinking other things in my cellar. I think this beer has aged excellently, although I can’t say accurately, because I didn’t try it fresh. Very little oxidation. Pours with a small head of small bubbles. Amber color. Thick body. Very sweet aroma. Lots of melanoidins. The description is very accurate. When aged barleywines and IIPA converge to similar characteristics. Very nice to smell. Mellow flavor with no off flavors. Very good. I’m a huge fan of good sweet aged barleywines.

Bomber shared with Cyn, this bottle has been siting in my cellar for a while, thought why not pop it. Pours orange with a nice 1 finger tan head. The nose from a far is full of caramlized sugars. Nose is very sweet and alcy. Taste has a lot of toffee and caramel sticky notes. It is sweet and syrupy and overall pretty tasty. I can’t say this could at all be confused with an imperial ipa, but I understand the sentiment in other beers.