North Coast Old Stock Ale

2005 vintage on tap at Monk’s Kettle in SF. Awesome! Murky dark brown color with a medium, lasting beige head and good lacing. Aroma is dark fruits, caramel malt, oak, spices, aged resinous hops, and a little alcohol. Flavor is intense and well-balanced with dark fruits - raisin and date stand out - as well as caramel, toffee, vanilla, spices, some hops and well-hidden alcohol. Palate is smooth, full, and creamy with soft carbonation. Paired amazingly well with a creamy tomato soup.

Thanks to ghawener. A pleasently, potent brew. A lot of bourbon like characteristics, sweet, fruity and woody. However, unlike bourbon, in this beverage we can truly enjoy the magic of hops!!

2008 bottle from Knightly Spirits (Orlando, FL). Pours a dark amber to almost cola brown with one finger foamy off-white head that settles slowly and laces the glass. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of ripe dark fruit, hefty malts, caramel, light notes of toffee, alcohol. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of chocolate, caramel,. ripe dark fruit, toffee, wood, light boozy almost bourbon notes. Generally medium body with a boozy malty finish. Nice BW.

2008 bottle. An unclear brown beer with little head. The aroma is sweet & alcohol. The taste is sweet, malty, light fruits, caramel, & alcohol. Surprisingly smooth for 12.5% & aging has done this beer good. The flavors are more up front & potent when having it fresh but with some age those same flavors have smoothed out & has become more of a balanced beer.

It poured a dark amber liquid with a very small foam that left no lacing. It had a smell of sweet caramell, very malty and some warm alcohol. It had a strong taste of malt, caramell, fruits with an alcoholic finnish. It was also fairly dry.

12 oz bottle from Market of Choice. Poured a deep brown with a very light chunk of tan head. Aroma is very pleasant, a mixture of vanilla, oak, caramel and molasses. Flavor was potent with caramel, molasses, vanilla, light bit of oak and a hit of booze that isn’t unpleasant at all. Palate was very smooth, this is a pretty easy drinking barleywine. Very tasty.

2009 version in a bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown colour with a medium large light brown head. Aroma is caramel, toffee, leather and hints of iron. Flavor is malty with caramel, syrup, toffee, raisins and liquorice. After a while a small hoppy bitterness is recognizable behind the other flavors. Not bad but a bit to sweet for me.

Aroma of malt, toffe and cherrys. The apperance is nicly red with a medium head. Tha flavor is of toffe and is bitter and sweet at the same time. The beer has overall a bit to weak aroma and the alcohol i shining threw but is still a very good beer.