Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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

Bottled 2002. Hazy dark red colour with a slim and steady tan head. Aroma is sweet, malty with brown sugar. Big flavour hit - sweet and malty with raisins, then nicely very biitter and hoppy. The alcohol is warming but largely hidden by the flavours. Long bitter finish. Full bodied and smooth. Very good barley wine.

Pours a deep, clear red coppery color with almost no head, despite unintentional glugging on the pour. Aroma is malty and dark, very sweet, with banana, brown sugar, herbal hops, and alcohol. The flavor is is really powerful... up-front sweetness, with raisins and banana, and noticeable alcohol presence. The flavor turns bitter halfway through, with lots of earthy, grainy tasting hops. The finish is a mix of both, with banana coming back, and there’s a heavily bitter aftertaste. This beer is complex, and really, really strong. Very tasty.

Hazy reddy colour, tan head. Malty aroma. Alcoholic flavour, with off notes.

Dark brown body with a small tan head. Strong caramel aroma. Strong dark caramel body with a strong hops almost earwax flavor.

2002 bottle: Murky brown with a big tan head, some lacing. Aroma, rich caramel and brown sugar, very malty, some earthy hops to it. I picked up a hint of oxidation. Flavor, rich malts, some heat, and a bit of bitterness to it on the finish. This stuff is holding up nicely.

Tap at Capital Ale House: Innsbrook. -- Not really that impressed with this beer. Dark brwon body with a huge, frothy tan head. Sweet and malty aroma, an earthy quality to it which is frankly quite nice. However the taste is dominated with hops, with almost nothing resembling a balance with malts. A slight hop bitterness in the ending, fair but not great.

My stealth black crock bottle says 2006 @ 11.5%. Pours rich drain water amber after a flood w/ full semi creamy froth reducing to island spatter. It literally looks like thick mud soup as it fill the glass. Aroma is sweet w/ cherry and malted acid hops. Super full nectar w/ mellow residual effers. Intense and robust flavors are extremely hoppy leaving 3rd degree asprin burns complete w/ sloughed off skin. This stuff is so hot it burnt my lips off. A big massive malted mudslide tries to balance it out at mid palate but hasn’t got the momentum. Kinda like the Fire dept arriving too late leaving your charred remains for someone else to deal with. The aspin wins out to the finish w/ a K.O. Big gobs of chewy roasted caramel and new leather scattered in the crowd somewhere but get lost in the chaos. Overall: this ones like war of the worlds. Hopsy firey asprin against the flood of a malted sludgeslide. Like it says above, "intense and robust". Age this one please or drink now and I’m not repsponsible for what happens. I’m tellin’ ya man. Put on your hard hat for this one and approach with caution. You might want to bring a knife and fork. Highly recommended.

2002 bottle. So much cheaper than buying those ridiculous ceramic bottles. Aroma of caramel, breadiness, and a little alcohol aroma. Flavor was very sweet and a lot of the hops were gone except for a little bitterness. Not very rough for being 10.5%, but it is 4 years old. Still has a descent body. There was just a little offness just after the bitterness hits my tongue. Glad to try this.