Ridgeway Criminally Bad Elf

Ridgeway
Brewed at Hepworth
Style: Barley Wine
Reading, England

Serve in Snifter

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It’s a very beautiful, warm amber beer with a small, dense head. The aroma is fruity sweet with notes of malt and caramel. The mouthfeel is fat and the flavour has sweetness, light fruits, malt, caramel, candy sugar, a nice bitterness for this style, and it’s a bit citrussy in the finish. It’s an uncomplicated BW, maybe not as complex as many others, but charming!

Golden orange translucent color and not mead head to speak of with aroma of chardonnay and cotton candy. Does not taste like a typical barleywine as there is not much roasted malty. Instead it has a sweet honey orange malted flavor accented with cork. Not much palate complexity.

Jan22, 09. 500ml bottle.
Malty aromas dominate with carmel and toffee being key. No hop character, slight diacetyl, slight fruity esters of golden raisins
Medium Amber, light off white skim of foam on the top of the beer that never really built up. lots of bubbles in the body. Mostly clear with a slight chill haze.
Sweet start with malty flavors all over (carmel, biscuit, toffee). Moderate bitterness in the middle and a sweet, coating finish. No hop flavor. The malt/bitter balance is definitely toward the malt side, but the bitterness does provide some balance.
Full bodied, Med carb, slight prickliness, but coating in the end. Hint of astringency
This is a very malty winter warmer. Very malty considering the color. Bittered just enough to provide a counterpoint to the sweetness. The coating characteristic gets in the way I think, but otherwise, a very tasty offering.

Pours a deep, clear amber into a snifter. Fluffy medium sized tan head with nice retention. Ocean aromas with well hidden alcohol. Upfront sour then caramel with a lasting alcohol sharpness.

Bottle. Clear medium to light dark orange color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, fruity, moderate hoppy, orange, notes of alcohol, licorice. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finish feel is light alcoholic. (241207)

Aroma of sweet malted grains; hops, floral. Clear orange appearance; frothy beige head. Orange flavor, almost citric. Hoppy aftertaste; alcohol. Very good. Gets somewhat more boozy in the middle. Grainy. Maris Otter? Is it too sweet?

Small head good medium carbonation an amber coloured pour aromas alcohol marmite toffee treacle brown sugar dried fruits grapes ginger cinnamon clove flavours vinous dried fruits raisin sultana alcohol brown sugaryeast clove cinnamon toffee treacle finish okay aftertaste bright hops and yeast spice swetness altogether fairly good

The beer as it sets in the glass after the pour from the 500ml bottle appears as slightly hazy burnished copper with the head modest in size, off white and frothy, it vanishes rather quickly leaving the a patchy coating of lace. Nose is cotton candy sweet, hints of fusel alcohol, caramel, malt and a touch of spice, pumpkin like is what I’m trying say. Start is obnoxiously sweet, malt present adequate, alcohol bite noticeable, top is medium in feel. Finish continues the heavy sweetness, hops overwhelmed, a tummy warmer, and the aftertaste sticks to your palate like the “Peanut Butter From K Rations”, but as I’m “Abbynormal”, I like this beer? lol

Bottle: Transcluent amber, fairly heavy on the orange, moderate frothy off-white head, spotty lacing, very light carbonation.   Sweet malt nose, somewhat syrupy, yet also somewhat light.   Strong malt base, pale malts, sweet and on the heavier side, also biscuity.   Yep, its a bit syrupy, chewy too.   Noticeable alcohol, yet its well managed for 10.5%.   Deceptively easy to drink for a high ABV beer.   Rather simple, pretty much all malt, fairly sweet and syrupy.   Rich body, thick mouthfeel.   Fairly clean finish, although it does have the aftertaste of an icicle taken off an old gutter.   In other words, the water.   Decent brew.   Worth seeking out for the Holidays!

UPDATED: MAY 24, 2008 (Bottled) Clear, deep copper with a smallish-medium, foamy head. Strongly malty, sweet-berryish and very toffeeish aroma with some alcohol presence when pouring, but not much afterwards. Very toffee-malty, only slightly sweet flavor with berries and some dried fruit. Quite full-bodied, low-carbonated palate with some alcohol burn. Very malt-accented barley wine, not very sweet or viscous. Slightly too much alcohol burn to be fully enjoyable, but definitely not bad - maybe criminally bad, though :). Didn’t get any better in 8 months - maybe slightly more vegetably.