Southern Tier Oak Aged Back Burner

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Lakewood, New York USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle. The head is nonexistent, off-white. The beer itself has the color I would expect from a barley wine: a clear dark red copper. Looks good. Aroma is some fruity hops, raisins, almond / marzipan. Flavor reminds me a bit of a strong American IPA, but the raisins differentiate it from those. Carbonation is soft and mouthfeel pretty smooth. Finish is slightly bitter and sweet, some alcohol.

What a great beer. Reminds me of Anchor Old Foghorn, which is the archetype barley wine for me, i.e. very good. The taste of alcohol at the end takes a bit away from my points. But, nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Bottle. Dark ruby with a beige head. Aroma: wet dog, wool mittens, sweet maltiness with toffee, grapes. Taste: raisins and dried fruit, toffee, oak, light earthy, grape juice, sweet, honey, some kind of candy. Quite full bodied with medium carbonation. I was hoping for more from this one.

Bottle. Pours a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Has a sweetish malty woody vanilla aroma. Sweetish malty woody dark fruit and caramel flavor. Has a sweetish malty vanilla woody caramel finish.

On tap @ Beer Temple. Clear red-brown color. Off white to beige head, sticky. Aroma’s: sticky toffee and resinous hops. Retronasal the oak wood (vanilla) comes out clearly combining well with the toffee. Flavor is medium sweet with notes of wood. Medium body. Finishes malty, lightly bitter. Real nice.

22oz. bottling date 2/15/12. Richly malty and sweet aroma, hugely complex with notes of dark brown sugar, dried fruit, citrus, pineapple, oak, vanilla, earthy, spicy hops and some faint medicinal alcohol in the background. Deep, dark amber in color with a fine, uneven, lasting, light tan head. Flavor profile is just huge in all possible ways like a good Barleywine should be, with dark, sweet, toffeeish, toasty malt, floral, citric, earthy hop, oak accents, and a strongly bitter, long, warming finish. A certain sugary raisin fruit character lurks in the background throughout. Palate is chewy and thick with a massive body. Oak presence is there, but certainly not overwhelmingly so. This is quite nice after 10 months of somewhat accelerated aging.

On tap at Beer Temple. Poured dark brown with minimal tan head. Aroma of roasted, medicinal malt. Medium body, flavour is overpoweringy medicinal with a severe, dry aftertaste.

Bomber bought @ Bierkompass.de. Pours clear copper with a small frothy offwhite head that quickly dissipates without leaving much trace on the glass. Smell is sweet, malty and tiny metallic with caramel, alcohol, vanilla fudge, roasted coconut, charred wood, toffee and alcohol. Taste is sweet, bitter and malty with caramel, sweet bread, golden syrup, roasted coconut, vanilla fudge, wood and orange peal. Mouthfeel is round, tiny boozy and medium to full bodied. Finish is sweet and bitter with caramel, orange peal, resinous wood, pine and toffee.

From the bottle at Big Beers but later in the evening so the notes are getting scant: sweet caramel, dark fruit, barrel/woody/earthy, light hops and vanilla.

Bottle at Bomber-o-rama, Göteborg. Clear deep amber beer with à quite lasting beige head. Malty vinous aroma, nutty notes, caramel, alcohol, creamy, bready, biscuits, milk, toffee notes. Alcohol flavor, roasted, hay, caramel, figs, biscuits.

(Bottle) Pours copper, almost no head. The aroma holds spicy/fruity hops, light fruity esters, spicy/buttery oak and bready/caramelly malt. Hints of roses and resin. The flavour is light to medium sweet, medium bitter and light acidic with notes of resin/citric hops, spicy oak wood, bready/caramelly malt, flowers and tropical fruits. The flavour is clean and a bit numbing with a light carbonation. Alcohol and bitter hops on the finish. Medium bodied.