Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

(bottle from Weber Street Liquor in Colorado Springs). Pours a cloudy, dark amber color with particles floating. Medium off white head. Hoppy aroma and taste with light malt and light alcohol. Long duration. Astringent finish. Oily texture. Fair lacing. Moderate carbonation.

2009 bottle thanks to WeeHeavySD. poured a nice gold with a off-white head that stays and laces the glass. aroma of pine, citrus, caramel, and some slight dark fruits. flavor was much the same with the addition of grass and alcohol. the body was the first thing i noticed on this. body was full and slick with what seemed to be high carbonation. pretty good as is now, but i should of listened to some advice and cellar the beer longer.

bomber from grape & gourmet, 2008 release. pours a hazy, bright orange gold with a very thin, off white head with a ring of lace. aroma is great with big caramel malts, earthy hops, dried raisins, figs, mild citrus, and a hint of cider. flavor is outstanding with a wonderful balance of big, roasted caramel malts, toasted pistachio and bitter, earthy, citrus hops with a background of subtle chocolate, toffee, and pine notes. palate is full bodied and slightly syrupy with a well integrated, warming alcohol presence and a long, roasty, bittersweet finish. overall, one damn good barley wine.

Sampled both 08 and 09 bottles. The 09 was much more crisp and forefront in the hops, a warm resinous pine and earthy hops, chased with alcohol warmth. Hint of sweet fruit, caramel, raisin, just sweet enough.
The 08 lost a lot of the crisp resin of the hops, leaving an earthy warmth with stronger hints of brandied fruit and raisins, caramel malts and a roasty quality.
Sampled at Rozi’s Wine & Liquor, Stone Tasting Event, Lakewood, OH.

Bottle from early 08 . Poured a cloudy thick copper amber. Nose was hoppy with a hint of the 11%. Strange that a beer this strong was slightly watery. Flavor is of hops and a bit boozy, but very smooth, with a sweet finish. Pretty good, but not great.

Location:22 oz bottle from Capital Ale House, Innsbrook, 5/7/09

Aroma: Sweet fruits, caramel, maybe a little raisin, earthy hops
Appearance: Amer/orange color
Flavor: Nice hops character, a little tangy, seemed to improve as it warmed
Palate: Decent mouthfeel, long finish
Overall Impression: I was pretty excited to try this one, but I wasn’t all that impressed. It was a decent Barley Wine, but I was expecting it to be better. Maybe the bottle I got wasn’t so great? I split it with a friend and he agreed that it wasn’t quite as good as we had hoped it would be. I’d try this one again if only to see if it was the bottle I got or the beer that didn’t do it for me.

(Vintage 2008) Enjoyed from a 22oz bomber in a whiskey snifter. Pours a nice deep copper with a relatively small white head. In the nose, I got a lot of what I thought were raisons very quickly dipped in maple syrup. I also got some notes of character and specialty malt. Very impressive and appetising. On the palate, this one was really impressive. With an abv of over 11%, and the fact that my bottle was relatively young in terms of vintage, I expected a fair bit of alcohol character. However, I was really pleasantly surprised by the fact that there was no indication of the high content. The only indication the drinker gets of the gravity of this beer is its full-flavored nature, as well as the fact that one gets a nice warming feeling soon after the experience begins. The finish is not overly sweet, another impressive feat. Overall, I loved this beer, and can’t wait to sample it again.

I was excited to find this on tap at the Hopcat in Grand Rapids but when I actually had it I was severely disspointed and really had a hard time finishing it.The appearance was a nice amber and had a great head with good retention. The mouthfeel was good overall but had some astringency and flavor was not good to me at all. The finish left an aftertaste that was not positive.