Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

750 ml bottle. Fine-laced brownish white head. Hazy orangey dark brown. Pungent raisin and port-wine aromas. Really sweet. Some sherry aromas can be detected as well. Alcohol and hop kick you in the face. Extremely bitter. There seems to be used mostly high alpha acid hops. Relatively little hop aroma, so the main contribution is a strong bitterness. Thick and sweet body. Aftertaste is really bitter. The monstrous bitterness makes it feel almost boringly bitter.

Bought a 2002 bottle (in march 06). Poured with little head, and a burstinig aroma of barelywine. Excellent malty alcohol aroma. I hate to say it, but it tasted a little like one of the best beers I’ve ever had... with a tablespoon of cough syrup in it. Overall this was a great beer, and really what I look for in a barleywine.

2005 ceramic swing top. Pours a somewhat murky reddish brown color with a tiny white head that basically reduces to a slight film. Hints of prune in the aroma along with tons of citrusy hops. Harsh and bitter flavor with a little too much alcohol presence. Burns on the way down. I’m not trying this one again until my other bottle has gained a couple years in age or someone offers some that they have aged themselves.

Small 1998 bottle at T. H. Brewster’s, LAX. Hazy red-brown colour with no head whatsoever. Wonderful raisins aroma with added fresh chocolate. Starting with raisins flavours, and continuing with port flavours and alcohol, it gradually develops towards a surprisingly dry chocolate finish. Oily texture, soft. A special occassions beer, released after 8 years in the beer cellar.

My first barleywine style ale that I can recall. Dark red brown with light head. Has a heavy aroma of caramel apples, spices and licorice. There’s some floral/fruity/citrus aromas also. Very alcoholic in flavor and finish: my whole mouth and lips were burning. Finishes like a grapefruit: harsh! Full-bodied. Delicious.

ruby color with a small brown head. wood, alcohol, hop, cherry aroma. starts hoppy and ends with a licorice sweetness. definitely a good one.

Medium creamy light brown head with some larger bubbles. Hazy dark brown body. Sweet, lightly roasted, oaken aroma; very harmonic, complex, and not too heavy. Intense, sweet, roasty taste initially, giving way to an explosion of hop bitterness (with little attendant aroma) that makes up the vanguard. Oaken, caramelly flavours. Sugary, creamy mouthfeel. A very cool beer, but a bit too excessive to get top scores.

I tried this also at Rich O’s but by the time I had it I coudn’t really rate it. Oh well, I’ll just ahve to re=rate it when I go back in March.