Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

Bottled in 2002. Pours a cloudy dark brown with a quarter inch, almost yellow colored head that fades to a thin ring and leaves decent lacing. Smell; has a slightly chocolatey aroma, sweet toffee, hints of dark fruits with a definite alcohol presence. I don’t get much bitterness in the smell. Taste; piney hop bitterness upfront, but not as overwhelming as I had expected, probably due to the age. The toffee and chocolate flavors really come out after the bitterness passes, and the dark fruits follow on the finish. Mouthfeel was pretty smooth, but a little thin. I think the three years this barleywune has had to age was probably a good thing, based on some other reviews I’ve read. It wasn’t quite as bitter as I had expected it to be. This isn’t the best barleywine I’ve had, but it was well worth the try.

Draft. 6 oz. Pour. Pours a very hazy brown color with much sediment left at bottom of the glass. This beer had no head. Palte is huge and chewy. Almost too much alcohol taste for me. Very strong, good sipping beer. This may be an old keg? There was absolutely no head, and looking at the other ratings, something is a miss. I will have to re-rate from bottle.

A stunning pour. A nice dark brown with orange/ red tints. A creamy looking tan head, small. A tiny lacing hovering over a murky, speckled body. Smells of molasses, maybe figs/ raisins. Intense sweetness in the front, giving away to an amazing bitter/ dryness which seems to creep up on the mouth, and warm the throat as the beer descends. Dryness out the wazoo, deeezang boy! Beer has an extremely high viscosity. Finish is great. A "sipping" beer fo shizzy.

Beautiful pour. Deep red/copper/brown color with scents of pine, toffee, sweet malt, and understated raisin/prune. Tan/beige head is massive, but a bit frothy... maybe due to an uncareful pour on my part. Laces like crazy. Hops is a bit too overpowering, but some reviewers have suggested this diminishes with age. The hops don’t ruin the show, but dominate both the initial taste and the aftertaste. In between the hops, flavor is nicely done.

Bottle. Reddish brown in color with littl or no head. Aroma is malty and very strong. Molasses and raisins. Malty hoppy and fruity flavor. American hops. Roasty. Finish is hoppy. Sweet. Full bodied. Decent.

Pours a very dark reddish brown with a very thick tan head. Aroma of molasses, malt, cocoa and prunes. Very strong taste. Can really taste the high alcohol content. Has the burnt coffee taste of a stout but slightly sweeter and more alcoholic. A bit overpowering for my tatse.

12 oz. bottle. 2002 vintage. enjoyed on 11/9/05. Pours a very dark brown with a big creamy, beige head with a peach tint. The head is long lasting with nice lacing. Initially all I pick up on the nose is citrus and pine, but the second sniff picks up a nice mix of malt, caramel, toffee, dark fruit. Grapefruit comes to the front of the taste followed by caramel and raisins. The finish is dry and very long with lingering citrus bitterness. The alcohol is quite tame compaired to the younger vintages. The texture is rich and chewy. This has actually aged quite nicely.

Bottle (12oz) at Volo. 2004 vintage. Well, I said I would rerate it and I did. Pours a murky dark ruby with a small diminishing off-white head. Aroma’s quite fruity along with caramel malt, light hops, chocolate, alcohol, toffee, wood and more -- quite nice! Flavour’s also fruity along with plenty of hops and malt, alcohol, wood and a long bitter finish. There’s no question that I liked it, much, much more this time. Whether that’s due to it being aged longer or my tastes changing, or both, who knows? Either way, great stuff.

Old rating: 7.4.6.2.12: 3.1
Bottle shared with HogTownHarry at Bar Volo -- Vintage 2004. Pours a murky dark ruby-brown with a spare off-white head. Slightly sour aroma of sweet malt and alcohol -- lots of alcohol! Flavour of sugar, sweet malt, alcohol, pepper, caramel and hops -- once again the alcohol is most prominent making it overly harsh. The aftertaste is incredibly bitter -- way too much so. This was really hard to drink, I had a hard time finishing half a bottle. Based on some of the other ratings it seems that aging this beer for a year is not enough, this is one to put away for several years. If I ever come across an older bottle I will rerate it.