North Coast Old Stock Ale

07 - Beautiful deep, coppery-amber color. Sweet aroma, extremely complex, malty palate. Somewhat-yeasty in the finish, covering the significant alcohol taste - one of the best beer’s I’ve tasted that has been made in the US.

07 bottle. My first barley beer, so I don’t have anything to compare to. Pretty tasty, poured ruby brown with a reddish-tan head. Tasty, I can tell the complexity, but not sure what to look for. Pretty nice though.

06 bottle- Nice warming beer, great sipper for winter. Poured red-brown with light brown head. I get carmel, maple, and alcohol out of this one. Solid beer had to drink it before the bourbon barrel just to see the difference. This version of old stock seems empty after drinking the BB version. The body seemed to thin for me. The finish is all alcohol too.

[Bottle] Pours reddish-amber with a small yellowish-tan head. There is a lot of fruit and malt in the aroma--overall quite sweet. I also detected a little chocolate, caramel malt and alcohol. The taste is much the same, but heavier on the alcohol. This was a fairly fresh bottle though, so that was to be expected. Medium mouthfeel with a long finish. A nice barley wine that I will definitely have to try again when it has some age on it.

’05 vintage. Thanks for bringing this one over joey! Amber with a little off white head. Aroma was dried fruits and maple syrup. Flavor was raisin, plum, brown sugar, more maple syrup, a bit of alcohol. Finished syrupy. ABV was noticeable, borderline on being overpowering.

Pours a dark ruby color that is pretty clear with a sizable tan head. Aroma is of sweet malt, alcohol, and spice. Flavor is heavy in alcohol, but there are lots of sweet malt flavors as well... notably caramel. 12 oz. bottle, 2008 vintage.

-2003 vintage- Highly effervescent head that bubbles and fizzes nicely but reduces to a small film of bubbles around the edge. Color is dark amber/red, cloudy with a small amount of sediment. Smells extremely vinous with a definate alcohol and sweet fruit note that is pleasant. Overwhelmingly get the smell of alcohol and sweet fruits. Taste is unexpected. There is really a lot happening but here goes. A really wine like quality that live up to the BarleyWINE name. Extremely smooth in your mouth and it is almost sugary as it washes over your tongue, then your brain deciphers it and you get the true tastes. Sweet fruity flavor with a alcohol backbone, I get no hops characteristics whatsoever. A good caramel taste sticks with you in the aftertaste. VERY good.

Vintage 2004 - tasting notes 2005). Dark red with a quickly decending head. Melon, peach, raisins and some alchol in the aroma. It’s a heavy barley wine, no doubt about that, vineous, sweet malty and yeasty with a good bitter finish. Good to be a couple of guys, going into this one.