Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

Early 2009 release purchased at Central Market in Mill Creek, WA. Pours a beautiful cloudy orange color. Flavor: Dried fruit, medium hops, sweet malt, and a hint of citrus.

Limited early 2009 release, bomber bottle. Pours a beuatiful orange/russet. Small hea. Very nice citrus (grapefruit) aroma. Underwhelming start (semi-sweet, some malt) followed by a beautiful bitter finish, and a nice lingering bubbly mouthfeel (almost viscous) that then fades down to the boozy warmth in the throat. Very good beer.

Limited early 2009 release bomber bottle. Orange, copper brown in color, small amount of white head. Smell is citrus, fruit, and malt. This beer smells wonderful. The taste is initially sweet and malty followed by a bitter hop finish that lingers on your palate for 10-15 seconds after each sip. This is my first barley wine and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It tastes a lot like a good IPA and I would rank it up there with my favorite IPA’s. Overall excellent.

Limited Early 2009 Release bottle. avg. rocky off-white head (mostly dissapating) with some lacing present into a murky copper. aromas of okay tons of hops. hard to get much else (not really bothering me cause the hops are so damn good). alcohol is well hidden (not even much warmth). oh wait, there is the malts. flavor is initially mod bittersweet and finishes mod-strong bitter. dry sticky long-lasting stuff. I overall really enloyed this one but I think the hops may have hid other aromas...wait there is a bit of (other) aromas that are more familiar in barley wines.

Old guardian mmm. This is the 2009 batch. I don’t care what anyone says this is a fun, hoppy, big smash your head in barleywine. I love it. Huge hop profile when it is fresh, got some malt going on as well, but the hops are big and bigger. Some citrus in there, of course hops, malt and a bread flavor. With it being so hot I also notice a strong taste/smell of alcohol every so often. This one will do very well with age. I have had them aged before and wow, but I wanted to be fair and give a rating when this beer is as hot as it should be.

2008 bottle. Maybe i should have let the bottle age more? Coming from stone, i was slightly underwealmed. an easy to drink barley wine though

Bottle pour.Medium amber color decent head.Tastes like an overhopped IPA?I couldn’t really discern any other flavors just hops.I didn’t really care for this at all.This was my first attempt at a barley wine.I’ve heard these are better with age and that they should be before drinking.I’ll get another bottle and sit on it for awhile and rerate later.

2008 bottle:
Pours dark, hazy amber with a mid sized, dense head. Toffee, malt and hop aroma. Flavour has notes of hazel nuts, sweet malt and maybe some liquorice but all the flavour are soon washed away by a big and aggresive bitterness. Not a beer for beginners.