Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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

Been saving this once since 2006, and might even have a reason to save the black pearl colored bottle. Either way, I had hoped 2-3 years under lock and key in a cool dark place my tame this barley wine. That wasn’t the case. Even after it’s detention, the Old Crustacean came out ranting and raving. It desperately attaches itself to the glass with a tight lacing and grip, and a dense latticework of foam for the head and sides. The aroma is immediately, and viscerally, hoppy, and chalky too. Shaved chocolate, cocoa and the richness of fresh paint coat the nostrils, adding a second coat of fig a little deeper in. The taste is deep, velvety, and decadent, but suddenly drops it’s act and knocks you back with a staggering punch. The blow is softened by some coffee notes and coffee bitterness, and even some chocolate. But these flavors are more than robust, and the alcohol is still wicked sharp. This needed some more time to age. As it is it’s just unnecessarily strong and overpowering.

2002 Bottle. Pours a deep amber with almost no head. Strong sherry aroma with notes of caramel, port, and alcohol. Full bodied with soft carbonation and a hint of stickiness. Flavor of caramel, cognac, and soy with a peppery bite. Finish is boozy and warming with some chalk and sherry flavors. A real sipper. No cardboard-like oxidation, but could use some sweetness and hops to balance it out-which were faded out. Flavors remind me of a diluted Sam Adams Triple Bock. I will take a SN Bigfoot aged over this. People told me to age this, but perhaps I let this sit for too long. I don’t recommend aging this for 7 years like I did.

On tap at the brewery on 6/28/09. Pours a dark copy with lots of foamy tan head. Sweet caramel aroma. Very balanced full-bodied beer. Sweet , with a nice lingering finish.

draft at The Nook, AL pours copper, thin beige head with nice golden lacing. aroma and taste, malty, lost of caramel, overpowering abv with some thin hop profile and in the finish. Gains in goodness at is warms up and the chocolate and caramel become more noticeable. Definitely had the Rogue signature.

Draught at Rogue in SF during RBSG09. Deep red color with a lasting light beige head. Pretty nice aroma of cherry, dried fruit, some fruity hops, and toffee. Sweet malty flavor with raisins and other dried fruit with a very bitter and astringent finish. Full bodied and rough feeling in the mouth. Trying to get past the bitterness/astringency, this was ok, but this beer probably need to be consumed out of an aged bottle, not on-tap.

Old review of a fresh bottle of 2007 - but I obviously should have let this age. Interesting to review it fresh though. Why did I like this so little? Dark brown beer, oddly shaded brown cap and a tiny bit of retention. Aroma: alcohol first that almost burns the nose, weak toffee, some coffee. Boring. I sure hope that I have another one in the cellar so I can prove this review wrong. The taste is pretty lame as well. Pretty straight forward BW. Yeast, some sweetness, slight coffee and something else tied into the coffee bitterness. Full bodied. Chalky and not enough bitterness. Highly unsatisfying. I think that there was just waaaay too much stuffed into this bottle.

RBSG09 on tap at the Rogue Publick House in SF. Deep copper color, total clarity, thin tan head. Big caramel malty aroma, cherries, Dayquil? Raisins and caramel flavor, bread dough, hop resin, some astringency. Flavors don’t mesh all that well. Decent at best.

Ruby red with a beige head. Smells a bit funky, lactic, smoked aromas. Very bitter finish--was difficult to finish entire glass.