Schooners Old Diablo

Brewed by Schooners Grille & Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Antioch, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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2005. Deep rust, amber and orange pour sparkles under soft light. Oily. A congregation of edge bubbles impart a faint white lace. Marzipan, caramel and pine in the nose. Alcohol is moderate and it seems like there was no effort to hide its power, but it still seems great. Minor vanilla and spice. A simple, excellent aroma. The flavor is highly malty with heavy toast and lesser roasted grains. Complex caramel leads into fresh black vanilla. The finish is soft and sweet, light bitterness lingering. Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, lightly carbonated, smooth. This is one of the better barleywines I’ve tried this year. Nothing makes this score exceptionally high, but there is absolutely nothing to complain about either.

2005 vintage, courtesy Ibrew2or3. Copper-orange in color, thin white remnants of head floating around. A lot of alcohol on the nose, along with some nice piney hops. Taste was not as alcoholic as the aroma would indicate. Sweet and dark spices on the taste followed by a long hop finish. The hops come out nicely throught the alcohol and this must have been a monster when fresh.

2005 vintage. Courtesy IBrew2or3. Pours a fairly clear amber, with an off white head. Pretty bready, yeasty, malty aroma, with some hops too. Big and bold. The flavor is fairly complex, huge malt presence with the bitter hops coming in toward the end. Pretty nicely done. Good complexity, decent balance. Pretty tasty.

GABF ’07. Pours tawny with an average, frothy, light brown head, lasting lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, caramel, nutty), average hops (perfume, grass), average yeast (sweat, earth) with notes of banana butter. Full bodied, alcoholic texture, lively carbonation, and a bitter finish. Average duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness.

Dark copper pour, tall off white head w/ thick lace. Sweet raisen, grahm cracker, caramel, aroma, some dark fruits, fugel hop. But w/ no fugel in it... definatelly european. Well coated full palate. Thick sweet flavor, lots of caramels, english hops, light fruits, touch of grahm crackers, hints of alcohol, very mellow and quite nice.

UPDATED: JUL 19, 2009
Date: February 26, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Vintage: 2002
Appearance: cloudy dark amber, wispy beige head
Aroma: rich caramel aroma with hot fusel alcohols to burn your nose
Body: sticky sweet body
Flavor: big sweet caramel malt flavor, touch of alcohol, earthy bitterness

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

Date: July 10, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: RBSG 2009 Dinner
Vintage: 2007
Appearance: hazy dark red, fine beige head, drippy lace
Aroma: big sweet dark caramel and vanilla aroma, candy sweetness, rich ripe dark fruits, light oak
Flavor: sweet caramel flavor, lots of vanilla sweetness combines well with the caramel. touch of dark fruits, light chocolate

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+/4

2002 bottle sampled on 2/26/07: Pours a transparent bronze copper with a lightly-lacing coating of off-white head. Toasty sweet caramel toffee aroma has some complex light fruity esters. Body starts full, viscous and caramely sweet with decent bittersweet, light fruity balance toward a warming finish. An enjoyable barleywine that appears to have aged quite well.

2002 Vintage:Poured a hazy orange amber color with a minimal off-white head. The aroma was of dried aged fruits. Light earthiness at the end. Malty sweet flavor with notes of dried fruits and aged malt. Very tasty and warming. Light bitterness on the finish. Semi-dry.

tap at barclays. This is a comfort beer if there is such a thing. very nice aromas of smoky malts and caramel. Flavors are smoky, woody, a bit of toffee and malts offset by some floral hops. But the soothing, buttery smokiness is what sets it apart. Outstanding.

Valley Brew tasting Feb 2007 - 2002 vintage - Aroma and flavor are sweet, smokey, caramel malt and some green veggies that gives it a unique profile. Palate is sticky and sweet. Didn’t really notice the alcohol, but it was starting to get late at this point.