Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

All the murky barleywine characteristics at play. Besides the usual: hoppy nose, bittersweet chocolate in the flavor, and a distinctly smooth quality given the rollercoaster of flavors. Enjoyable and worth another look.

I can’t see why the ratings for this beer are this low. Pours a hazy mahogany with ho head. Aroma is nice and hoppy with caramel and some malt. I really like the taste. Sweet up front, smooth and malty, then turns to a strong hop bitterness. The finish is more hops with caramel and toffee. The alcohol is hidden throughout, but it creeps up in the end.

Out of 750 ml bottle. Pours a dark, opaque brown-mahogany with a very small white head. Sweet malty and caramelly aroma. Flavor is sweet malts and dark chocolate, quite bitter, but doesn’t really taste that hoppy, more like a dark chocolate kind of bitterness. Mouthfeel is thick and smooth, lower carbonation, with a long, bitter finish. Definitely not the "Cognac of beers", but a decent barleywine nonetheless.

Dark red/brown color. nearly opaque. Cloudy. No head at all? It was even a rough pour... Also, No lacing was seen. Sweet smells - that of hops, though quite malty. Smooth and full-bodied. Not bitter, or hardly bitter is my bottle different from others? Sweet to the taste. Very good. The finish lingers a little long on the back of the toungue, slightly bitter here. 10.5% alcohol? So far I can’t tell, I guess I’ll know after its empty...

Hoppy and convoluted but good for what ails you. Overly bitter with little to brace it, but enjoyable none the less. I’m a barleywine fan, but were I not this beer would not have such a high ranking.

Had this at a fest. 2-oz. sample from a snifter. Beer poured s hazy medium-brown color with a small, frothy, light-brown, mosty diminishing head. The aroma was pretty hoppy for Barleywine, with heavy notes of grapefruit and pine and trace aromas of raisin and green apple peel. The flavor begins moderately sweet and moderately bitter and fades into a long, harshly bitter (unpleasant) finish with a smokey retronasal aroma. The body is full, the texture is syrupy, the carbonation was flat and there was a moderately alcoholic feel in the finish.

BIg ceramic bottle. Expensive. Appears dark brown with an orange tinge. Small frothy short-lived head. Aroma is fairly complex: spicy hop notes, candied sugary malt, heavy duty pound cake, one bad thing, a slight hint of an ammonia-y smell. Flavor is very bitter, this is definately a sipper, but man... Nice brew with a dry warming finish. I will drink it again, hopefully on tap...

I really do think this is overhopped. There, I said it. Other than that it is quite good.