Rogue Old Crustacean Barleywine

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

Bottled in 2002. Pours cloudy brown with a quickly fading beige head. Aroma of aged, dusty malt, dark fruit and caramel. Very hoppy and bitter for a barleywine. Taste has notes of grapefruit, toffee, cherries, caramel, molasses, dark fruits, roasty malt, chocolate - spicy and peppery. Bitter finish, slight alcohol burn. Full and round on the palate. Overall, a great brew.

12 oz. bottle. "Bottled in 2004". Pours a slightly cloudy ruby-brown color with a bit of thin soapy head in the middle of the glass. Robust grapefruity hop and caramel malt aromas dominate. The carbonation is present, but not too lively. The taste is pretty much all grapefruit hop character, with some malt character getting through. The hops pretty much overwhelm, and I like a little more complexity from a barley wine.

Draught at McGlaughlins in Kyoto. Amazingly complex nose with melon, citrus, hops, caramel, pine, and lots more. First sip and I was blown away by burning hops and not much more, but after my tongue adjusted to them and the beer opened up, there was great malt flavor, caramel, toffee, dark fruits. This was great. Love that evil looking cloudy red appearance as well.

Wow this is a big one. Smells cherries and sweetness. Orange brown color with a thick head. Feels heavy. Tastes huge, immediately tasted caramel sweetness then a very bitter hoppy finish, and some alcohol tastes. Probably couldn’t finish an entire bottle.

Bottle. Pours a murky brown color with minimal tan head. Nose is sweet caramel, dough, yeast, some light chocolate and maybe brown sugar. Palate is very full and velvety/syrupy. Tastes of rich caramel, sugar, very sweet, some light chocolate and some biscuity bready notes.

Reddish brown pour with hardly any head. I tried this side by side with Lake Suprior Winter Warmer. Of these two "congnac like" beers, I would have to say the Winter Warmer wins. The old crustacean had a sweet alcohol aroma and a sharp bite in the flavor that I can only assume is the hops. The hops did nothing for this beer, in fact, they are what gave it the OFF taste that I just didn’t like.

Brown in color and cloudy with a decent sized beige head. Aroma is of caramel, spices, malt and toffee with a good hop bitterness. Taste is of malt, caramel, alcohol, and hops. Slightly dry palate.

2002 version. Would like to up my score a bit. Still think the aroma is more like a whisky with hot alcohol blending with hops producing a woody like scent. Hops have mellowed a bit but still dominant. Malt is sticky. Not bad, and balance is starting to creep in.

Ruby, cloudy beer with thin head. Musty, American hoppy, alcohol aroma that almost burns the nostrels. Then hops, hops, alcohol, hops and grapefruit. This beer is WAY overattenuated. Almost no malt sweetness followed by Chinook domination of the palate. The grapefruit taste lingers like a bottle of Tobasco. I don’t think there is enough time in my life to allow this one to age and mellow. Advise to brewer: please leave just a little malt sweetness to balance the Chinook (Chinook is not a hop. Chinook is a beast that conquers palates for the entire evening!). Note to tasters: save this one for last, or bring lots of bread! 4-3-4-2-7