Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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

Bottle@LCRBM. Malty, floral and raisin aroma. Hazy, brown color, beige head, fair lace. Sweet, raisin, bitter, floral, fruity. Sticky and full.

Name: Old Crustacean
Date: January 10, 2004
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Appearance: dark amber, whispy head
Aroma: big hop aroma on top of a rich malt base, hops and more hops with a long bitter finish
Body: enough malt to give it some body
Flavor: all hops and bitterness

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.3/5.0
Score: **+/4

Name: Old Crustacean
Date: September 03, 1997
Mode: Draft
Source: tasting room
Vintage: 1990
Appearance: dark opaque rust color, no head, low carbonation
Aroma: good hop aroma
Flavor: heavy malt flavor with lots of balancing hop bitterness, very smooth with no appearent esters

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Score: **4

Name: Old Crustacean
Date: July 13, 1996
Mode: Bottle
Source: total beverage, DC
Vintage: 1995
Appearance: dark opaque rust color, no head, mild carbonation
Aroma: strong fruity aroma
Flavor: strong dry flavor with high hops, strong esters, lasting bitter aftertaste

Name: Old Crustacean
Date: March 01, 2006
Vintage: 1995
Appearance: hazy dark amber, scant head
Aroma: oxidized malt aroma with earthy hops
Body: good creamy body
Flavor: bitter malt flavor with nice balanced fruity malt, nice bittering hops in the finish

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.8/5.0

Poured a near opaque ruby-brown color with an off white head. The nose is an sublime mix of moist caramel malt, alcohol and grapefruit. Taste began with hop bitterness, followed by a clean alcohol washing of the tongue. Nice bready, caramel maltiness mixed in with subtle strawberry shortcake, plum, raisin and overly ripe fruits. The end is moderatly piney. This is in that grey area between an Imperial Pale ale and barleywine. Expecting one or the other may change your opinion. Lack of hop balance made this an average barley wine.

12 oz bottle shared with toncatcher. Not the best barley wine I have ever had but it was good.

2006 vintage. 750 ml ceramic bottle. Aroma of hops and sweet molasses. Pours a dark leather color with a thin, white head. Mouthfeel was very bitter to start. Hints of caramel and a bit of spice. Beer is nice and thick as it goes down. Warm alcohol taste brings this bad boy home.

12 oz bottle from 2002 shared with toncatcher. Lot’s of dark sweet fruit on the aromas. Some alcohol in the aromas too. Murky brown with almost no head. Flavors were very good. More raisin, molasses, toffee. Coffee flavor then alcohol on the finish. Pretty good stuff.

Bottle from 2002: Pours an incredibly thick and cloudy brown (like the color of a caramel chew, but darker) with a thick light tan head that fades quickly into a layer of large bubbles. Intermittent spots of lace are left on the glass. The aroma is very strong - alcohol, oak, tons of earthy and fruity hops, loads of sticky-sweet malts, and some strong notes of soft, bitter fruit. The flavor starts intense with alcohol and tons of bitter hops. A low tide of chocolate-caramel cremes rides in after the wave of resiny, astringent hops. The malt backbone is quite delicious, but the hops are just a touch too bitter - giving it a medicinal, mouth-puckering bitterness. The finish is full in body and packed with alcohol, chocolate, caramel, and a not-so-subtle, varnish-like bitterness. The mouthfeel detects a delectable texture - creamy and rich. It is thinner in body than it tastes (it tastes like it should be thick and chewy). Overall, very nice - but a bit unbalanced.

Great Barley Wine! Recently had a 2002 from Bottleworks. After 5 years in the bottle it was syrupy and mellow. I prefer a fresher one, perhaps 1-2 years in the bottle would be enough. Bottles are pricey (or "spendy" as they say in Eugene) -- better to get it on tap!