Stone Old Guardian (Vintages 2004 and later)

Bottle. (2008 vintage). Powerful fruity malt aroma. Cloudy deep orange amber body, off-white head. Flavor is moderately sweet, fruity, malt and caramel, some alcohol presence. Not my favorite style, but overall the best barley wine I’ve sampled to date.

Nice translucent orange color. Little brown mixed in. I have seen darker, but this is fairly nice. Nice head sitting on top that doesn’t go away. Good looking beer. Nice hop and sweet malt aroma. This beer has an excellent balance as far as the aroma is concerned. Nice pine hop smell. Ah it smells delicious. Fairly pungent. Wow, nice bitter taste. The hops hit you immediately, and linger around. I am getting that bittering hop that is just all over my tongue. Nice sweet malt balance in the beer as well. I think there should be more of a malt profile to compliment the hops, but this beer is damn good. Alcohol is not in your face, as it is with some barley wines. A nice creamy texture, but nothing ridiculous. Overall, damn good barley wine.

Tap at Stone, ’05 vintage. Poured kind of light for barley wine, but it was quite a beer. Super dark fruity, malty beer. Taste was much the same, very smooth and easy to drink, this would be very dangerous. The alcohol was very well hidden, great stuff.

Bottle. 2008 vintage. Pours an amber color with a nice white head. Aroma of caramel, fruit candy, toffee and hops. Maybe a slight note of honey too. Flavour is quite sweet and malty. Notes of toffee, fruit candy, citrus and grapefruit. Warming alcohol in the finish. Smooth, filling on the palate. A nice sipper, though maybe not the best beer I’ve had from Stone. I’m going to try my next bottle next year or so, it will be interesting too see how it will mature.

On tap at Winterstorm. Verticaled the 04-08. The fresh was good, but the aged were better. Each year mellowed, and the jump between the 07 and the 05 was huge. The best by far was the oldest, at 04. It was cloudy and deep amber/orange. It was warm and fuzzy. Spicy, fruity, boozy, sweet. I don’t know how much better it could possibly get with any more age.

Rating #650. 2008 bottle. Light reddish orange with a frothy off white head that dies quickly. Nice syrupy looking body. Aroma is citric hops, caramel malt, alcohol. Taste is huge citrus hoppiness on top of some toffee and caramel. Nice warming alcohol finish.

Tried on draft at Pizza Port in San Clemente. A really incredible brew. I am actually surprised it is a barley wine style ale. The flavor is an awesome sweet balance of hops and malt.

08 vintage. Bronze-amber color with a light beige head that leaves nice lacing. Aroma is very strong and hoppy, with a backbone of toffee. Flavor is caramel and toffee maltiness with a dose of C hops and a rather over-the-top alcohol note. Definitely needs some age, but not too much lest the hops crap out. Body is a shade under thick, carbonation is perfect. Solid beer.