New Holland Existential Hopwine

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

This beer is a clear dark copper-amber color with a thin ivory white head that dissipates steadily. Stringy lacing on the glass. Aroma of grassy hops, herbs and toffee. Medium-bodied with a strong malty character and flavors of hops, butterscotch and mild spices. The finish is borderline syrupy sweet with malt and butterscotch and enough citrusy hops to keep it from going overboard. Pretty good overall.

I’d consider this an imperial IPA more than a barlywine, simply based on age. Nose is extremely citus hoppy, with alcohol burning my nose in the finish. Tons of honey and hops in the flavor. Very floral in nature. Syrupy sweet body. I’m sure that I would have liked it more if aged a good bit longer to let some of the hop bite and alcohol mellow out.

Pours dark amber with a small white head. Smells of citrus and hops. Goes down very smooth, and tastes of raisins. Too sweet for my preference.

thanks to bitbucket tasting. Full bodied IPA with enough malts to match the load of hops. Dry, hoppy bitter finish. Not too resiny.

650 ml says 10.5%. Clear copper with a creamy, two-finger head that settles to a lasting disc and leaves a coat of crunchy lacing. Rich citrus, honey and molasses aroma; later some hints of peanut butter fudge! Flavor starts similarly and sweet, turns more to earthy molasses, then more citrus and chocolate. Finish is peppery oak, resin, alcohol, marshmallow and toasted walnut. Woody hop bitterness lingers long. Medium body is smooth, and seems watery at first and later syrupy. Hop-bitter dry and alcohol-warm on the finish. Nice, but the hop finish needs to be a bit less dominating on a dessert sipper like this; should have aged it another six months or so.

Bottle. Poured a cloudy amber color with no head. Aroma of sweet malt and hops. Flavor was caramel malt with a high amount of piney hops. Creamy on the palate. Full bodied with little carbonation.

My bottle says 10.3% ABV. Very thin head of miniscule bubbles. Light carbonation. Sweet and hoppy aroma. Lots of resinous hops, some sweet caramel malts, alcohol and a bit of butterscotch. Color is a bright orange. Then when you get to the bottom of the bottle it turns into a swirly cloudy yeasty piece of art. Palate is thick and malty with lots of caramel malts, a bit of peppermint up front, more resinous hops and some butterscotch again. BIG alcohol presence and warming. Finishes sweet and hoppy witha bit of lingering harsh roastyness. An ok barleywine and will certainly help deaden the pain from my first rugby match is 1 1/2 years.

I was not a fan of this one. It was the last beer of the night and I was pretty hopped out by this one. Still, the sweet malty cereal-ness/graininess was an unpleasant surprise. Thought this beer was very unhopped for something called Hopewine...much more wheat wine than DIPA. This beer poured a cloudy dull amber with a really minimal scummy head. Aroma was pure alcohol esters, which reminded me of rubbing alcohol. Flavor was sweet malty cerealness. Mouthfeel was dry and astringent...almost to the point of burning. I would be reluctant to recommend this beer.