New Holland Existential Hopwine

On tap at brewery. Clear amber with small white head. Aroma of hops, dark fruit, and booze. Taste of sweet malt, floral hops, and hot alcohol. Medium mouthfeel. Just OK.

Tap at the Arena during Ann Arbor Brew Week Pub Crawl. Poured an orangish amber with an off-white head. Aroma was full of grainy notes with sweet and caramel notes present as well. Flavor was quite odd as it brings IIPA components to a barley wine. There were sweet malts as well as bitter hops with a bit of alcohol. A fun beer.

Pours cloudy orange with a short lived head. Hoppy aroma, resinous, piney. Flavor starts very sweet and fruity, peach notes, with a syrupy finish.

Bottled sample. Orange in colour with medium carbonation. Quite malt forward on the nose, with notes of creme caramel, hothouse flowers, booze, and a bit of citrus. The hops come through a bit more in the mouth with some herbal and orange notes mixing in with the strong malt profile. Faint oxidation notes, even though the bottle was less than a year old. Fairly heavy in the mouth, with a moderate amount of bitterness providing balance. A pretty standard barleywine, but not quite the hop bomb that was advertized.

22 oz bottle. Clear orange brown with a haze. Medium light with faint carb. Taste is caramel, melon, orange peel and candi with a grassy bite. Mostly sweet with just enough bitterness to balance. I don’t usually like hoppy barleywines but this worked well, if a bit simple.

Sampled draft on tap at the brewpub (Holland, MI). Pours a a nice bright amber, some more lighter gold notes, decent whitish head that laces well, coats the sides of the glass. Light haze. Aromas are light floral hop and mild seweetness. Initial throws a decent floral hop body with light malty swetness, some stronger booziness and good bitterness on the backend. For the style, this lacking, but as a beer it isn’t too bad overall. Finishes floral and earthy hop, light seeetness. The hops steal the show, but are by no means assertive.

Bottle. Poured a filtered orange color with a white head. Aroma of sweet malt, caramel, fruit, citrus hops. Taste is malty sweet with some citrus hops. An interesting barleywine. Finish is bitter and sweet. Mouth is pretty carbonated. Overall, pretty decent barleywine.

Bottle from Whole Foods, Cleveland Heights. A strange IPA, commercial description more of barleywine. Bitter IPA mostly, highly carbonated, below average mouthfeel. Light orange colour. Drinkable, OK as an IPA. A bit of hop aroma.