 AmEricanbrew (824), Left Coast, Louisiana, USA
May 13, 2008
Clear amber with no head. Sudued candi sugar malted milk aroma. Medium body with light carbonation. Decent pit fruit malt bomb flavors here, with a nice boozy bite to finish. 2007 bottling.
FlacoAlto (2039), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Jul 22, 2008 2007 Vintage; Sampled July 2008
Wow this is one viscous brew, you can tell it is thick just by pouring it. This foamed up a bit as soon as I popped the cap, but it was slow enough that I was able to pour it into my glass before losing any beer. The head forms a three finger thick, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a red tinged, full amber hue that shows a lightly hazed, reddish, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite hoppy, but also as a sticky fruitiness to it, or is that a touch of funk. Candied citrus notes start to take on a vegetal edge and then move to a funky, plastic edged phenolic character towards the finish. The funk and hop notes combine to form aromatic notes of berries, juniper, sour apple & watermelon jolly ranchers, pine sap and some light notes of acetone.
Thick and rich tasting, fairly sweet too, though not quite as sweet as the thick body might suggest. Amply hoppy, though this has a funky edge to it with some plastic and lightly smoky phenolics. Flavors of grapefruit, lychee and orange zest are purely hop driven, while flavors of pine, typically associated with hops alone, are actually accentuated by the phenolic notes. Sweet malt sugars take a caramelized edge and accentuate the hoppy citrus fruit flavors. Underneath the phenolic notes in the finish are malty-driven notes of biscuit malt and lightly, toasty grain.
I’ll admit to being forewarned about possible contamination & as I was staring into the beer fridge after have a disappointingly unfunky / uncomplex Weyerbacher Riserva, I figured what the heck, might as well have a beer were the funkiness plays a distinctive role even it was unintentional. Judged purely to style this is a monumental failure, funk has no place in a modern Barleywine, but taken as a hedonistic experience it is not half bad. This will get substantially more funky with time as it seems to be at the beginning of its funk journey; proceed with caution, but with an open mind this can be at least somewhat enjoyable.
kramer17801 (1846), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 17, 2008 12 oz bottle, via lb4lb. Pours a slightly hazy orangish body with a nice tight bubbled beige head that retained as a thin film. Sweet and fruity nose with a bit of a citrusy hop accent, there’s a nice tangerine rind scent drifting about. A slight alcohol component as well. Pretty bitter up front battling it out with the sweet fruity malt, making it pretty well balanced. Lots of citrusy fruitiness on the slightly alcoholic finish. Pretty full bodied feel to it, the carbonation is a little prickly and fizzy. Slightly warming as it goes down the throat. A nice juicy Barley Wine. I’d like to see what this does with a bit of age on it.
Goodgrief (995), Middletown, Delaware, USA
Jul 5, 2008 Pour was a deep reddish brown...or should I say brownish read...good head and some lacing. The aroma was sweet malt. The flavor was really sweet...sickly so, even though there was some bitterness to attempt to balance it. The bitterness didn’t seem to come from any hops, but rather some overdone kind of spice. The mouthfeel was extremely sticky...kind of like I was lowered into a vat of maple syrup. Caramel, fruit, vanilla and goofy odd spice...but not going well together. I like the rating below that said "overattenuated honey and urine"...that isn’t far off! I had trouble finishing this one.
aplusbreaks (24), , Colorado, USA
Jul 4, 2008 Bottle thanks to mar. 2007 vintage. Pours a hazy orange/amber, with absolutely no head. Aromas of Sweet malts and alcohol. Its actually got a nice bit of hops, making it a little dryer and balanced than a lot of barley wines. It finishes a little hot from the ABV but thats no surprise. Good stuff here, my favorite of the four Real Ales tried tonight.
GAManiac (217), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Jul 2, 2008 Bottle. Pours a deep hazy amber with a thin dense head that dissipated to a ring quickly leaving a fair bit of delicate lacing. The aroma is dominated by a massive candied sugar scent that had a hint of hops in the background, but not much. The flavor is also dominated by the candy sugar with hints of caramel malts. There is also a little bit of hop bitterness in the finish though a medicinal taste lingers in there as well. The mouthfeel is light to medium for the style but still nice and creamy. This is a decent example of a barleywine though the sweetness is certainly higher than most.
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