Southampton Old Herb

Lots of malt,brown sugar,and hops.Pours a murky brown with a little tan head.Get some sweet malt and alcohol in the flavors.Medium to full mouthfeel with some bitter hops in the finish.

Cold 12oz bottle: Pours a hazy reddish amber color with no bubbles. Whiskey, floral hops, rich malts, caramel, pine and wood. Very oily texture and moderately carbonated. Bitter, floral ending.

Bottle 2005: Pours initially clear burnt orange color until the large amount of yeast flouds into the glass turnig it very turbid. Aroma is big, rich caramelized sugar, also a profound hop note and some light yeastiness. Flavor is more refined that many barleywines, possibly as a result of sitting for the last year or so. Nice blended hoppy flavor, not at all sharp as well as some significant yeast earthiness. The flavors of this beer are so integrated at this point that they are difficult to pick apart and the melding of flavors into a whole produces a beverage that is not so much a series of separate flavors, as one integrated flavor for which the human vocabulary does not suffice. A quite enjoyalbe beverage and probably the only 2005 vintage Southamption I have enjoyed.

Hope I’m reading my notes correctly - bottle #409 of 2004, much thanks to Casey (DYCSoccer17). Muddy blonde brown, moderate head. Strong, addictive, warm and savory caramel malt-laden aroma. Expertly infused with sharp citrus and evergreen. Flavor is much softer and insinuating than suggested by the aroma. Raw woody/nutty tobacco notes followed by a slight dollop of syrup and an exciting, pungent bitterness, hemmed in by another sheaf of citrus hoppiness. Fruity (peach/apricot) and slightly minty/cooling finish. A really fine beer.

12 oz bottle #458 of the 2006 vintage. Pours to a bright, deep amber color, with a thick, creamy, white head, and a moderate carbonation. The nose on this beer is just fantastic, with lots of big aromas citrus and pine, paried with the aromas of sweet malt, toffee, plum, dates, and peppery alcohol. The palate is slick and oily on the tongue. Big flavors of caramel, toffee, butterscotch, plum, and date coat the tongue. This beer finishes with more of those big malty and estery flavors up front, then ends with a warming, soothing, peppery burn that lingers along with some citrus/piney hops. The ultimate night cap, this is one fantastic barley wine. I grabbed the last two bottles at the Publick House, and regret I could not find more.

Vintage 2004 in 2006. Pours a murky, orangey amber with fading tan head. The aroma is a beautiful mix of spicy gingery notes and toffeeness, sweet nutmeg, all spice, caramel; and along with all those sweeter aromas was an overall resiny aspect. The flavors are spices upfront, gingery, hint of nutmeg. Slight tart middle, with a medicinal aspect, herbal resiny hints, roasty toffeeness late and a slightly dry finish. Nice and unique barley wine by Southampton.

2006; bottle 266 out of 500. pours a hazy light brown/amber with an extremely small off white head that dissapears rather quickly. The aroma is pine and citrus hops, with a good amount of malt and some ethanol. taste is malty, sweet caramel and citrus hops, making for some great flavor: mango, pineapple, apples, come to mind on the fruit end. Toffee melds with caramel and light notes of vanilla, and the taste also has some bready yeast which adds a really nice touch. Finish is light notes of ethanol with a lingering piney bitterness. Carbonation is soft throughout the taste, but enough to be apparent. Wow, this one was a nice suprise.

2005 bottle, 261 of 500. I put off buying this for a while, because it was so pricy (though comparitively nowadays, $5 for a 12oz isn’t so bad, though when I first saw them they were nips at the same price). I bought a 2005 bottle that was already a year old in the store, which may have not been too smart as just buying a 2006 and cellaring it myself. I only say this because this seems to have taken a good bit of damage in that time... pretty badly oxidized and metallic palate. The aroma is fine, though hardly exciting,lots of sherry, syrupy cherry, rum, chocolate, brandy. Lots of cough syrup in the taste, and metal, like biting a nickel. Slight funky cheese... this really is ruined by the oxidation, though. I guess I’ll have to give a fresher bottle a chance, though I have a feeling it won’t happen for a while.