New Holland Existential Hopwine

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

Pours a very cloudy dark caramel brown, with a one finger head that settles slowly to a soapy cap. The lacing is thick and very sticky, leaving large chunks of foam. Smell; lots of caramel and toffee malts, with some cherries. As expected there’s definitely a big hop presence with citrus and floral hops. Taste; very much hop dominated by the hops, with citrus a little pine and a touch of floral hops, but this also has a very big malt presence. There’s caramel, toffee, molasses a little brown sugar and some cherries and dates as well. In the finish there’s a spicy alcohol, but that wasn’t at all surprising considering the very high ABV. Mouthfeel is full bodied, almost syrupy, and despite the big alcohol content this goes down surprisingly easy. This tastes more like a hoppy barleywine than a double IPA to me, but who really cares how you classify it. This is a pretty darn good beer regardless. I’m happy to see New Holland try something like this.

Copper pour with a frothy, lasting white head and good lacing. Toasty caramel pine and grapefruit aroma. More toasted caramel malt in the flavor with hints of mango, grapefruit, pepper and dates. Creamy medium-full body with soft carbonation.

22 oz bomber shared by YobDoog at Mullman’s gathering..thanks Trevor. Amber in color with a small off white head, bottle had been sitting out awhile before I got the opportunity to try this. Aroma is alot of caramel and toffee, you can almost smell the stickyness from the malts, with a moderate amount of citrus. Taste is alot of sweet base and caramel specialty malts, with plenty of citrus hop flavor in the background. Bitterness is mild initially, becomes more moderate. Finishes with some alcohol and a moderate piney bitterness. Body is very full, texture lightly syrupy. I read the other reviews and I can see how people see this as somewhat one-dimensional, but it is a dimension that I personally liked.

Bottle thx to me. Hazy and amber coloured with almost no head. Quite well balanced with notes of caramel, malt, spices, dried fruit and citrus hops.

Pours crystal clear copper with tan head. The aroma comes across as grainy, malty and full of pine hops. The hops keep pushing forward with grassiness, mild earthiness and more pine with a deeper draw. The taste is fairly viscous bringing in an initial brief pulse of thick sweet malts before the pine hop bitterness and grassiness completely take over the flavor. The malts persist deep in the background becoming noticeable from time to time added some depth. But make no mistake about it this is a supremely hoppy brew with mild sense of the ABV in both the nose and flavor.

I did not realize this was a BW. I thought it was a IIPA. Very piney aroma with a huge hop bomb explosion on the tongue. Nice

courtesy of ibrew2or3. Pours copperish/brown, with beige head. Aroma is of caramel malts and grains. Taste. sugary, hoppy and grains. Thick mouthfeel. Lots of hops for a barleywine, but this one remained highly drinkable.

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.