Southampton Old Herb

Bottle from SHPH. Pours an amber brown body with a light head. Sweet caramel candi sugar, some dark plum, a bit chewy some etoh and raisins. Real good with the 2 years on it.

12 oz bottle, 2005 vintage, via jsquire. Pours a very ruddy and murky dark amber after gushing out of the bottle a bit. Light brown head that left lots of sticky lacing. Heavy toffee malt with a good bit of resiny hop for an 05 beer. A lot of paper like oxidation and brown sugar. The flavor doesn’t seem to be all there though. The toffee malt and fruitiness are overtaken by the papery oxidation and it’s a little thinned out. Light bitterness on the rather short cardboardy finish. Mouthfeel is thinner than expected with moderate fizzy carbonation. It just feels limp and tired. Sadly, this bottle did not age well at all. Bummer.

12oz bottle, 2005 bottle, #151/500, courtesy of Stine. Thanks, Eben! Pours a murky brown color; light-tan head with patchy lacing. Lots of dried caramel and candy sugar in the aroma; significant oxidation. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: chewy brown sugar and caramel; relaxed carbonation; the oxidation is quite nice here; chewy dried fruits, raisins, and caramel at the core; nicely oxidized barleywine; solid mineral / earthy bitterness and caramel. Lengthy finish: caramel, brown sugar, and sweet malts; very drinkable.

Poured from a 12 oz. bottle number 151/500, vintage 2005. Sherry like aroma dusted brown with spices and rich with dark toffee and brown sugar sweetness. Hints at floral perfume in the alcohol glow and a bit of wet wood. Cinnamon, musk, pepper. Uneasy.

Fairly stale tired malt flavor. Dried caramel and barren wood tastes most dominant throughout. Powdery black pepper; thoroughly dried red fruits. Simple profile for the most part stripped down quite a bit. Dusky alcohol. Fairly dirty.

Palate is soft and somewhat barren, but wholesome in sweetness and still fairly rich. Nothing stunning in this example a bit past its peak, but still a satiating sipper. Thanks Mike!

2005, consumed 6/08, courtesy of Stine. Look out, it’s a gusher. Cloudy, muddy amber with a large beige head. Sugary, caramel, cotton candy nose shows some oxidations, but it doesn’t take away from the beer. Some golden fruits in the nose as well. Moderately sweetness is well balanced against a decent bitterness. The hop character is mostly on the piny spectrum, with a touch of citrus. Heavy, dense caramel and toffee fight with a moderate amount of oxidized malt. Full body is soft and chewy with moderate carbonation.

2005 bottle, #339 of 500. Just a beautiful pour.. rich garnety-brown with a stately, well-retained cap of creamy beige head.. rising carbonation and light sediment. The aroma was seductive and decidedly English with toffee, biscuity notes, and medium-skinned fruity sweetness, dried floral and herbal accents, and black peppery spices.. great balance and just delightful all around. The flavor was centered around warm toffee and biscuity sweetness that was amplified by alcohol warmth.. dusty darker spices including black pepper and herbal bitterness surrounded.. finished warm with a bunch of darker fruit and toffee. Heavier-bodied with fuller carbonation on the palate that gave a whipped, creamy feel.. well-balanced and warm, but not unreasonably so.. grainier on the back, laying out the flavors expertly across the palate. This was a great treat that I would love to try again in the future.

2006 vintage - I’ve had this beer stored for quite awhile now. In fact I forgot about the darned thing for so long, it was hidden behind several other taller bottles on my shelf so in a weekend of shuffling things around I saw it and thought...let’s drink!

The beer pours out a hazy reddish/brown (rust water) color with a two-finger thick head. Aromas were herbal/spicy hops, vegetative with some molasses-like notes. Flavor of stale malts, veggies with a strong toffee-candy finish. No notice of the alcohol, which was nice. Decent English barleywine, but nothing special.

Bottle 146/500, Vintage 2005 -- Well, this bottle exploded when I opened it... thankfully I didn’t loose much. Anyways... a very nice slightly cloudy, reddish-brown body with a slightly herbal-sweet aroma. Taste is exactly what a BW should be. Slightly sweet, with a nice bite. Ending is warm and smooth. Overall I’m extremely happy.