Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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

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.

From ceramic bottle. Pours a deep, dark red. Head is off white and solid, but not thick. Aroma is of burning vegetation, with some malt and hops to hold it all together. The first sip smacks you upside the head just to say hello. The flavors start with an assault of malt, followed by the hops stampeding across your tongue. There’s a little alcohol finish. I’ll definitely have more of this after I regain my senses.

Must have gotten a bad bottle. Strong smell almost vinergary. Pour was thick and amber bordering on black. Flavor dominated by sharp burnt tones with a slight sourness. Will have to try again and rerate.

have had new and 4 years aged. good but not the best barley wine. dark with lotsa yeast, hoppy with a fruit madera flavour