Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

Bottle, 27-APR-2009 Vintage 2009. Yep, this is my kind of Barley Wine. Orangy without head. Malts and loads of hops with only a little sweetnes making it more bitter than most. Creamy, bitter and long aftertaste. This is really good barley wine, and a reason for drinking the American kind. Brought home from New York.

Bottle marked "limited early 2009 release". Pours a ruby gold color with nice particles and an off white head that lasted the duration of the beer. Aroma of floral hops, citrus, grass, caramel, and some earthiness. Flavor is hops, dirt, malts. Nice alcohol finish, but could use some time. Syrupy mouthfeel.

Poured from a 22-oz bottle into a snifter. 2009 bottle. Poured an orangy color with a white head. Citrusy and grassy hops on the nose along with faint caramel malt. Strong hop flavor for this barleywine, strong alcohol burn and some caramel and nutty malt mixed in.

Bottle@GrOve’s. A thin beige, fine-laced head resting on deep golden to pale amber colored body. Strong caramellish malt aroma. Some fruity and grassy hops and a whiff of alcohol. Rich malt body, medium sweet with a quite heavy hop bitterness. Earth, fruit and grass. Feels a bit rough on the palate, yet nicely balanced. Finishes with a long, kind of peppery bitterness. A potent sipper!

Good barleywine. Stone makes some good stuff, for sure. I was getting some interesting flavors out of this one, I think. Some woody type stuff. My palate never lies. win

2007 Vintage on tap at Sunset Grill, Copper body with tall frothy white head. Very sweet sugary aroma, like hard candy and rum. White rum, and lots of it. Flavors were very muted and sublte, dried cherries, blueberries, dates and sticky almost funky malts. Very heavy sugar, and really strong carbonation still. Quite nice.

Bottle as shown. Pours a clear orange amber with a medium frothy off white head that leaves behind good sticky lacing along the glass. The aroma is a swee fruit hops with caramel and citrus. Thin mouthfeel with the alcohol strong upfront with a strong pine hop and a bitter finish. A very good barleywine from Stone.

660 ml bottle. Light copper colour. Clear. Medium-sized white head. Rich caramelly aroma with crisp grassy hop aroma. Sweet malt flavours. Typical of strong American barley wines. Great balance between hops and malts. Texture is soft and cuts throught the sweetness. Bitterness is rather strong and lingers a long time.