Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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.

750 ml ceramic bottle: pours a deep dark amber/mahogany color with a beige head. aroma is sweet and malty. caramel and brown sugar. citrus and hints of pine also poke through. slight alcohol aroma. flavor is of caramel and toffee and brown suagr with a slight fruity ester presence, followed by a strong power hop bitterness. grapefruit and piney flavors. resinous. lingering bitterness. alcohol is noticable but not over powering. nice warming effect. bottle was approx.1 one year old at time of consumption.

Clay Flip Top Bottle:Milk chocolaty cloudy brown color with a reddish tint. It displays a thick foamy head and sticky lacing. I picked up the alcohol in the aroma and on the bottle it actually says 11.5 contra the 10.5 listed here. I also noticed rich musty malts and a sweet hop presence. The taste - WOW! Powerful, sturdy backbone are a couple of words that come to mind. I like the balance of the in your face hops mellowed out by the malt structure. The aftertaste has a cough syrup quality (I think the green flavor) that is mainly sweet but leaves a nice blunted bitter affect as well. The feel is just right for a BW. I like this one a lot.

++++ RE-RATE 11-Dec-08 ++++
Vertical tasting of the 2001 (Bottleworks, Seattle), 2005 (Lukas), and 2008 (Lukas).
Pour:
2008 - cloudy ruby brown with a thinnish white head.
2005 - cloudy ruby brown 1/2 inch tan head, nice lacing. Best looking of three.
2001 - Same color no head really.
Aroma:
2008 - big bright pine grainy resin hops, caramel maltiness - probably the best of the three - signature rogue yeast is very present.
2005 - softer hops though still present, more of malt, of course the rogue yeast. Also some oxidized cardboard notes.
2001 - hops still present amazingly, though most muted of the three. Malt and yeast character mostly unchanged through the years. This one did not have cardboard.
Taste:
2008 - big aggressive hop resin, grainy, rough and tumble.
2005 - nice malt and hop balance initially. Huge wet cardboard oxidization in the end. Started really nice but faded fast.
2001 - in better shape than the 2005, though still a touch over the hill. Very similar in taste to the 2005, without as much cardboard.

2008 - 8,4,7,4,15 - 3.8
2005 - 7,5,5,3,13 - 3.3
2001 - 7,4,8,3,14 - 3.6

++++ ORIGINAL RATING 25-OCT-06 ++++
I love the commercial description "unfiltered and unrefined" Yep, that pretty much nails it. There is so much flavor and strength in this barley wine that it is overpowering. I do love the whisky tones though. (8,3,6,3,15 - 3.5)

On tap at Rogue, Portland. Hazy deep chestnut with lasting tan head. Lovely barley wine. Malts are gorgeous. Deep brown sugar, syrupy malt, but agile too, lots of hop. Alcohol is there, but it is not crude. Intense everything. This has great whiskyish malt and then sweeter too, but never over the top. Bit of brandy, gorgeous, great hop finish with some intense choc malt. Lovely. As you can tell, I quite liked this.

(bottle) Pours hazy amber/brown. Toffee-ish malt, sweet, (dark) dried fruits and bitter aroma with some alcohol. Vanilla and spicey hints. Peppery, aggressive bitter hops and fiery alcohol flavour with lack of sweetness for a barley wine. Medium, spicey body. Big, big afterbitterness.