Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

Draught at McGlaughlins in Kyoto. Amazingly complex nose with melon, citrus, hops, caramel, pine, and lots more. First sip and I was blown away by burning hops and not much more, but after my tongue adjusted to them and the beer opened up, there was great malt flavor, caramel, toffee, dark fruits. This was great. Love that evil looking cloudy red appearance as well.

750ml ceramic bottle, I think 2006 vintage but may be 2007. I thought the 2007 actually had that noted on the bottle, and this is at least 1-1.5 years old, but not sure what year they started using these stupid ceramic bottles. Anyway, pours a nice looking clear dark, dark amber, with a frothy one finger dark tan head, moderate retention and minimal lacing. Aroma is a pleasant blend of malty dark fruits, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, and toffee. Flavor is sweet malts, citrus hops, and more dark fruits, caramel, and toffee. I found this to be very enjoyable, but doubt Id pay for this obnoxious, wasteful, expensive ceramic bottle again. Why cant they just put this in 12oz. bottles?

Courtesy of Retorp. Pours a dark brown color with thin off-white, tannish head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of caramel, bread, toffee and some hops. Flavor is much like a milk dud with sweet and milky chocolate notes, sweet malt, caramel and toffee, and some slight hoppy bitterness toward finish. Generally medium to full body with a slightly sweet, slightly bitter finish.

Side-by-side-by-side of the 2001, 2005 and 2008 vintages provided by theisti & his friend Brent. My score above is for the 2008, my favorite of the three. 3/4/4: cloudy rusty brown/hazy mahogany with a thin beige skin/ditto. 8/8/8: dark fruit, brown sugar, light fruity cardboard; 2005-similar but brighter with a light backing of resinous hops; 2008-bright resinous hops with a big malty dark fruit backing. 3/4/4: Medium-bodied and slick with a mildly bitter finish; 2005 medium to full-bodied and lightly grainy with a bitter finish; 2008 similar to the 2005 only surprisingly smoother on the tongue. 7/8/8: sweet brown sugar paired with "green" resinous hops and cardboard; 2005 is similar to the 2001 with bolder hops and less oxidation; 2008-resinous hops over a nutty, sweet, dark fruity malt. 14/15/17: 2001-nice but a bit too oxidized for my liking; 2005-a nice hoppy barley wine; 2008-a nice tongue-raping hoppy barley wine. Thanks a ton for setting this tasting up for us, Tim.

Bottle 1998 picked up at Bottleworks. Sampled 12/09/2008.Pours a murky cider brown that looks lighter on the top then the bottle. No bubbles, fizz, head or anything. Sweet fruit smells. Apple, peach, brown sugar, coriander. Good white peach, apple, tawny port, butterscotch, an almost perfume flavor at times, some pepper too. Medium to full body, VERY smooth, with a salty after taste. Flavors diminish a bit too fast and more of a perfume flavor takes over. Still good but perhaps past its prime.

On tap at Yardhouse Waikiki. Pours a nice brown color with a tan head. Aroma of malt, caramel, brown sugar and old faded hops. Flavor is Hops. malt, caramel, old faded hops, nice earthy bitter finish. Good Barleywine.

<b>75cl. Ceramic bottle.</b>
Light unclear medium amber orange color with a small to average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, caramel, vimtage, wood, fruity - berry. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. (050908)

I was a little put-off by the appearance of this beer, but it had some other positive attributes that allayed my initial fears. It poured viscous and hazy...looked like malt syrup or maybe eggnog if the primary ingredient was actually malt syrup instead of egg. I thought I was in for a malt bomb with lots of malted milk ball flavor, but that wasn’t the case. Aroma was fruity, bourbon, and lots of maltiness. Still thinking that I was getting a malted milk ball. However, flavor was very mellow while still being highly malty and smooth with some nice bourbon notes. Quite good.