Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine (Red Wine Barrel)

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Barley Wine
Escondido, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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500ml bottle, 2010 vintage. Pours a deep, hazy reddish amber, with a white head. Malty, spicy aroma, wood, marzipan, apricot, vanilla, almonds. Off-dry, full bodied, medium to high bitterness, creamy CO2. Spicy, woody taste, malt, caramel, vanilla, a vinous touch, citrus, apricot, tannins, orange peel, marzipan, licorice. Dry finish, quite astringent, very complex. (2012-11-17)

Old Review from 2009 - This beer was a little bit of a disappointment. But it was still really nice to try. The Red Wine gave the beer kind of an off taste. I enjoyed the Vertical Epic just a tad bit more. Old Guardian is one of my favorite Barleywines ever. I don’t think the Red Wine made it any better.

Growler… Cloudy dark caramel ale with a small, fizzy, white head. The nose furnishes caramel and toasted oak with a splash of red wine. It’s just a hint medicinal, but fortunately no more than that... very slight. Full-bodied with a milky mouthfeel and pillow-soft carbonation. Bittersweet, caramely flavor with additional notations of toffee, brown sugar, oak and a faint medicinal component. Lengthy, lingering, bittersweet finish. Growler courtesy of Dstructo!

Pours a golden orange colour with no head. Aroma of malt, caramel or toffee, and red wine. Flavour is slightly vinous combined with the additional flavour of sweet malts, toffee/caramel.

On tap at Small bar as part of the Stone event. Drank side by side with the bourbon version. 2008 batch...Pours a medium mostly transparent copper, looks watery with a light tan head. Looks exactly like the bourbon...The aroma is rather dead, at first I thought I was getting aroma fatigue because the bourbon is very strong but finally I comes to the conclusion its just a very dead nose. A light hint of red wine and oak on the tail end of the finish...The taste brings a lot of flavor, more than enough to make up for the aroma. The taste is a typical barleywine, caramel, light hops but this is very smooth due the barrel aging. The wine barrels don’t bring out a much of a vinous character I think it more contributes to killing the alcohol of the barleywine. I prefer this version over the bourbon, but both are worth trying.

UPDATED: MAR 8, 2011 Draught @Brasserie 4:20 (Rome) - Red barleywine, good aroma of malt, sweet toffee and caramel. Taste is pleasantly sweet, then a bit of bitterness, not pronounced, quite shy. Medium body, a bit vercarbonated. Good.

Had on tap at the Stone Total Tap Takeover in Baltimore. ’09 Vintage. A-pours a deep dark amber color with a thin white head. S-the nose has hints of oxidation already, cardboard up front, light notes of oak with hints of the juicy red wine but faint. T-same as the nose with a little bit of envelope glue towards the back and some light bitterness in the finish. M-syrupy feel to it with a decently carbonated finish, juicy on the palate with a chewy malt body. D-oxidized, not horribly like some others at the event, barrel adds some nice flavors but they are light. i do enjoy their wine barrels I just wish they held up better.

Appearance: Served up a modestly-hazed orangey body with a wispy, near-white head. Smell: An initial sniff yields a faintly sweetish scent of bready malts with toffee and encrusted sugars. Then, some citrus rinds, follow by a whisper of oak wood and even less when it comes to the wine. Taste: Sweet uprush of toothsome, candyish caramel maltiness towing a subtle grainy breadiness behind it. Touch of citrus. Tart red wine character bringing in modest tastes of raspberry and rosehips. Slight flutter of tannins, follow by a pop of hop bitternes, which somewhat scuttles the wine character leaving only a dry, bitterish finish with plenty of alcoholic warmth. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: The wine pulls you in one direction, the bitterness pulls you in another direction, the alcohol pulls you in a third. It’s interesting, though, perhaps, not the smoothest presentation.

Tap at RnH for Stone tap takeover: much better than the belgo. Sweet toffee and caramel, vineous, raisins, woody, earthy. Nice complexity, prunes and figs. Nice bitter hoppiness.

Reviewed from notes. On tap at Dark Lord Day 2009. Poured a beautiful ruby red with a nice head and plenty of lacing. The aroma is dominated by malt sweetness, caramel/toffee, and a bunch of red wine notes; slightly vinous. The taste is quite similar, with a lot of complex malty sweetness as well as the red wine, which really complements the barleywine style--I’d love to see more brewers going in this direction with barrel-aged beers. Overall, a very solid offering. Big props to FFF for bringing this one in. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 01-17-2010