Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

Brewed by Rogue Ales
Style: Barley Wine
Newport, Oregon USA

Scent of hops and alcohol. Pours a dark amber with a long lasting head. Flavor is strong with the warmth of the alcohol hitting quickly. It does have kind of a bitter after taste. The price tag would urge me to look for a better tasting and more economical choice next time.

On tap at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. Actually I’ve had this for many years...always a monster...something that shouldn’t be served as a full pint as it was at Pizza Port, but hey...what a brew. Copper amber...quickly disappearing head. Big rich biting malt aroma and flavor. This usually comes in those little bottles because it’s a bodacious brew and usually could use a little aging. Lot’s of bitter fruit, burnt malt, alcohol, grapefruit hop flavors.

2002 Bottle shared with, and thanks to Eric. Pours a rich deep amber with a tiny lingering head. The aroma is really sweet and some citrus. The taste is moslty caramel, a nice alcohol bite, some hops, perhaps brown sugar and citrus. A nice BW that has held up really well.

Pours bright amber into a Snifter. Tan pancake head recedes to an oily skim on surface and to hug rim. Grapefruit, resin, and alcohol aromas. Sharp caramel upfront with a lasting dry warm grapefruit finish.

2004 bottle consumed 12/29/07: Pours mahogany with a thin off white head. Smells citrussy and resiny with lots of sweetness. Taste is a mess with lots of sweet sticky elements accompanied by a ton of underlying bitterness. A piss poor beer.

Wow...this beer does not help in my quest to love barley wines. Aroma was huge and delicious. Strong dark fruit, caramel malt and a little hops. Pour was a deep dirty brown with a one finger off white head. Taste was very 2 sided...first you have the heavy malt and dark fruit that assault the taste buds. Then everything disappears and a dryness takes over that leaves a bitter hoppy taste on the tonsils and in the throat. It goes from one to the other with no transition. Give me a Third Coast anyday.

750mL Ceramic XS bottle, poured into Tripel Karmeliet chalice. Red, mostly brown color, tan head that quickly went away leaving no lacing or anything behind. Very malty backbone, caramel and dark fruit, with a floralness not far behind. Very nice caramel maltiness, but the hops are not blended enough, there is the maltiness and then a very strong bitterness following. Pretty good but I think needs some age to perfect its flavor. Mouthfeel is full bodied and a low carbonation level. Took quite a while to finish the glass, but perhaps I’ll age one for a few years, I imagine it could turn out quite nicely.

12 oz bottle, 2004 Vintage. Pours a clear garnet body under a small fine bubbled beige head that faded to a wispy partial covering. A nice covering of sediment in the bottom of the bottle, one or two chunkies did make it into my glass. The nose on this is starting to lean towards the malt side, though there’s still quite noticeable hoppiness. Heavy caramel and toffee notes and a bit of alcohol. A little raisin and plum fruitiness. The hops in the flavor certainly haven’t gone anywhere though. Still just a hugely bitter hop bomb after almost 4 years. There’s boatloads of caramel and toffee with some lighter notes of coffee and chocolate. Clearly noticeable, but not especially overpowering alcohol coming through. The finish is quite warming all the way down the esophagus. Not quite as sticky as when fresh, but still certainly full bodied. Pretty nice soft super-fine carbonation. Overall, this is better to me than when it was fresh, but still needs quite a bit of time yet till I would consider it delicious.