Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

Bottle thanks to Matt, ’04 bottle so 3-4yrs old. Aroma is toffee malts, no signs of age, noteable grassy bittering hop and tangarine. Taste is similar malty toffee biscuits, loads of caramalt and loads of bittering hop, infact probably too much bittering hop.

12oz bottle from 2004, thanks to Boboski. Pours a dirty water brown with almost no head to speak of. Powerful malt aroma, lots of caramel, hard candy, and lots of hops, but get the feeling they have mellowed a bit. Medium body, lots of malt sweetness and tons of hop bitterness in the taste. I can see a fresh bottle of this being a mouth puckering experience. Hops are very assertive and spicy, this is a lot of IBU going on. Reminds me of a grappa, sweet somewhat fruity nose that leads to a spicy burn when sipped. Would love to see this in 12oz bottle again.

Hazy brownish red with a thin beige head. Moderately sweet fruity malt aroma. Big hop forward flavor with nice herbal and earthy hops and some mildly sweet english malt backbone. Some nice fruity flavors of plums, currants, dates make an appearance. Some alcohol kicks your taste buds ass in the finish. Pretty nice.

12oz bottle from 2003, purchased in Nashville in July 2006. Alas, would that we could buy Rogue’s premium brews in this form again. Old Crusty remains a fine example of a hop-forward American BW. Some nutty qualities in the aroma suggest the English style, and the balancing malts are welcome too. But this is basically a roided out brew that’s mellowed over time and sips like a good nightcap.

2006 bottle..Pours dark amber brown with a small brown head. Fantastic aroma of chocolate, caramel, strong piney hops, and alcohol. Flavor is alcohol, hops, and burnt malts. Not quite as pleasant as the aroma. Palate is a bit astringent. This one may have been better fresh.

Completely unrepentant, almost brutal, but just restrained enough to pass for a civilized kind of thing - this is the Old Crustacean. Redolent of something ancient and thick-carapaced crawling reeking from the briny depths, this is a true barleywine, raw, cloudy, and complex.

Had this in a dark bar, so can’t really tell what it looked like except that it was darker than I expected with a nice-sized head that looked near white. Aroma had tons of hops for a BW, as well as dark fruit and malt. The flavor was also hoppy for a BW, but with a solid malt backbone and some spice and alcohol for good measure. Not bad, not great.

Copper color. Smell of hops, malt, brown sugar, nuts, spice, alcohol, caramel, pine and some minor citrus peal. Tastes the same and the alcohol coats the back of your mouth. Very nice BW. This was 2004 vintage.