Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

06 ceramic bottle: Semi-transparent amber/brown with a small white head that disappeared almost instantly. Very sweet aroma with some mild citrus, molasses and a strange coffee hint that seemed very out of place. Caramelly taste with some fruity essence, malt, and a nice hoppy kick that climbed its way up the corporate ladder as it warmed. Very good brew and depending on the initial hop profile when this is fresh, it could possibly use another year of aging.

bottle. bottled in 1999. mahogony pour with thin soapy tan head. big aroma. huge malts. roasted, woody, chestnut, carmel and toffee. Great! rich malts, caramel, nutty, oak, mild sugars. well balanced. thick and a bit syruppy. aged perfectly. Amazing!

Frothy, chewy, dry, bitter, aged, and more sweeter than I prefer. Musty and toasty but not smoky. Carmel, pine, orange, sherry, Maybe tobacco. Too pricey.

750 mL ceramic bottle. Dark brown with foamy tan head. Aroma of malt, molasses, and caramel. Thick chewey palate. Wow, it has a big taste. Caramel, toffee, molasses quickly transition to a big bitter bite with citrus and pine notes from the hops and an alcoholic finish with a lingering floral hoppy after taste.

06 bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a caramel colored head. Aroma of sweet malt, caramel, toffee, bitter hops, and alcohol. Strong flavors of caramel, toffee and malt, but end sharply with very bitter hops, and hints of piney citrus. Good, but it seems like it will get better with more time to smooth out.

Ruby color with a small white head. Hoppy and fruity tones. Full body with lots of malt and fruit and a bitter finish.

Due to the special packaging that this one came in, I poured it straight into my ceramic stein. Due to this I can’t say much on appearance. It’s pretty dry and the bitterness reminds me more of a DIPA. The smooth start leads to a figure four leg lock, This is a 2006 vintage. I would like to try both extremes of this beer. One fresh off the press and also one that has been cellared a bit. Enjoyable but a little pricy. Next time I will buy a hog heaven and old ruffian for the same price.

750ml ceramic bottle, unknown Vintage (possibly a few years old), Sampled June 2007
Pours with a frothy, almost two-finger thick (when roused vigorously), dirty, pale brown colored head. The beer is an almost brilliantly clear, deep red color when held up to the light, otherwise it is an opaque, drab, dark amber color. The aroma smells quite sweet and malt focused, with some aged malt notes as well. Notes of sherry and prunes are noticeable around the edges making me guess that this is at least a couple years old. Hop aromatics are still noticeable, with notes of muddy herbs, dulled orange zest, tangelo and some sweet lychee aromatics being noticeable.

The taste is quite a bit drier than I was expecting and it does not have the rich syrup-like body I was expecting. It does have a gripping bitterness in the finish that is almost harshly astringent. Aged malt character definitely shows up here with notes of dusty, toasted grain / chocolate in the finish, and a touch of sherry. In many ways the flavors here just seem washed up, especially considering that I was hoping for gracefully aged.

I have had this beer long ago, and have even heard recently how bitter this beer was, but I was still a bit surprised by how tongue scrapingly hoppy the bitterness of this beer is; even in this obviously aged sample it still dominates the finish with an unwavering grip. With the lightish body, and without the dark color, this would almost pass for a modern day double IPA; though it might perhaps be a mediocre example. I will have to try a fresh bottle of this soon to see what that is like.