Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale (2012)
Stone Brewing

Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale (2012)Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale (2012)
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From:
Stone Brewing
 
California, United States
Style:
American Barleywine
ABV:
11%
Score:
90
Avg:
4.01 | pDev: 11.22%
Reviews:
299
Ratings:
2,046
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Nov 21, 2023
Added:
Feb 18, 2012
Wants:
  90
Gots:
  534
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Kjanisch7:
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Rated by Kjanisch7 from New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -6.5%

Jul 15, 2013
More User Ratings:
Photo of Orca
Reviewed by Orca from Washington

3.99/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
22oz bottle into a tulip. Pours a crystal clear amber color with a half-finger eggshell head.

Aroma is a nicely balanced blend of sweet malt, candi sugar (or what hits my nose as candi sugar), and floral/herbal hops. Caramel, toffee, some vague banana and clove notes. Vanilla and toasted marshmallow.

Taste is likewise a blend of sweet, fruity malt and floral/bitter hops. Ripe apricots. Clean, crisp water. Some warming alcohol as it goes down. Hops give it a crisp, clean finish. I’d even use the word “dank” to describe the hop presence here. Lots of alpha acids still at work here.

Mouthfeel is on the heavy side of medium. Sticky, chewy, and a bit bready.

Overall I admit I’m surprised by how well this one held up over more than a decade. A little less malt and a little more hops and this might have almost been an imperial IPA. Good stuff.
Nov 21, 2023
Photo of cardfan212
Reviewed by cardfan212 from Minnesota

4.17/5  rDev +4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Picked up a couple bottles from a local liquor store recently. For some reason, they had a bunch on sale for $4 a bottle, so who knows how it was stored. Poured into a clear glass goblet.

Look - Beautiful opaque dark amber body, capped with a sandy tan head made up of fairly big loosely clumped bubbles. Breaks down into some gentle lacing, clings tightly to the glass. Simple and elegant.

Smell - Strong roasty malt supported with equal parts sweet caramel and bitter earthiness. Surprisingly straightforward, but wonderful at what it is.

Taste - Comes at you with more upfront bitterness than I would have expected. Not tongue-curling or anything, but I was predicting the first flavor to be malty sweetness. Have no fear though, that comes second after the initial bitterness. A strange inverse on what I'd consider the normal flavor development. The pleasant sweet bready malt lingers for a long time, truly lovely to sit on. Again, pretty straightforward, but beautiful because of it.

Feel - Wonderful and perfect for the rest of the beer. Good thickness, good carbonation, good mouthfeel. Doesn't have any alcohol kick either, so an additional plus.

Overall - Pleasant, wonderful, a true treat. There isn't one standout quality, just a very strong ensemble. After sitting around for 10 years doing who knows what, this bottle came out on top.
Jan 29, 2023
 
Rated: 4.37 by Resistance88 from California

Sep 27, 2021
 
Rated: 4.3 by detroitpat from Michigan

Mar 20, 2020
Photo of mothmanscott
Reviewed by mothmanscott from Georgia

4.06/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
From notes 3/13/13: Pours hazy brownish amber producing a single finger of dense, lasting, beige head that yields little lacing. Aroma is of dark, strong malts, caramel and toffee, dark tea, grapefruit pith, orange, alcohol booze and something a little dark grape-like. The taste is fronted by strong malt, sweet caramel and toffee with some dark fruits; grapefruit, a lingering leafy dark tea bitterness and alcohol warmth/spice. Aftertaste is caramel sweetness and bitter dark tea. Mouthfeel is medium to heavy bodied, carbonation is on the high side of moderate.
Oct 23, 2019
 
Rated: 4.49 by dafla67 from Pennsylvania

Feb 25, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by Patches826 from Massachusetts

Feb 12, 2019
Photo of MikeWard
Reviewed by MikeWard from Pennsylvania

4.28/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
2015 classic release, bottled 2/7/15, so closing in on 4 years old. Poured into a goblet.

Cloudy deep orange/amber body with some serious dark floaties. Big slightly off white head leaves very good lacing.

Strong aroma of boiled sweet candy.

Now this is the kind of American Style barley wine that I like. There is some initial bitterness followed by a strong slightly sweet wash, but the bitterness lingers on the back of the throat, but is somehow soft instead of powerful. Delicious.

Mouth is close to full, finish is bitter/sweet/bitter

Overall, nice sipper in front of a roaring fire on a cold winter's night .Only thing that ruined it was the freakin' patriots winning :(
Jan 21, 2019
 
Rated: 4.55 by khargro2 from Tennessee

Dec 19, 2018
 
Rated: 4.09 by OtisCampbell007 from Tennessee

Dec 17, 2018
 
Rated: 4.02 by KMcGrath from Massachusetts

Nov 27, 2018
 
Rated: 4.62 by onewayboogie from California

Oct 26, 2018
Photo of Ozzylizard
Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.15/5  rDev -21.4%
look: 3 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75
$ 9.53 (Including tax)/capped 22 oz bottle ($ 0.433/oz) from Oppermann’s, Saginaw, MI.
Yellow ink-stamped on the shoulder “Bottled On 02/07/15”, cellared for three years, then stored at 42 degrees and served at 60 degrees in a hand-washed and hand-dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 3.
Body – Amber, opaque. When held to the light, amber and hazy.
Head – Upon removing the cap, a tube of yellow-tan foam slowly worms from the neck and falls over the side. When poured into the glass, the head is average (Maximum three cm, controlled center pour), yellow-tan, medium density, short retention time, rapidly diminishing to a one to three mm ring and a thin island.
Lacing – Poor. There is a single segment of tiny bubbles in the shape of an ax.
First pour – Medium amber, hazy.
Aroma – 4.25 – Initially, a burst of malt and lemon. The lemon rapidly fades leaving malt and a bit of caramel.
Flavor – 2.75 - Begins with a taste best described as “medicinal”, slightly bitter, and coating the oral cavity. Subsequent swallows seem less medicinal and blander. The medicinal coating is still present. The malt, caramel, and lemon from the nose are conspicuously absent. No alcohol, no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3 - Medium, average, lively carbonation.
Impression and summation – 2.75 – The best thing about this brew is its aroma – the lemon was entirely unexpected but still worked very well with the malt aroma. Appearance was average at best. The “flavor” was unbearable, suggesting contamination and production of fusel alcohols. The palate would seem to bear this out, since it is thin and over-carbonated. Checking back in my notes from a previous encounter, I see had this rated as a solid “mehh” back in 2009. This time it would rate a “mehh minus”.
May 17, 2018
 
Rated: 4.04 by mattreitz49 from Florida

May 11, 2018
 
Rated: 3.75 by oline73 from Maryland

May 08, 2018
 
Rated: 4.18 by Cuervo_PCB from Florida

Apr 07, 2018
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Reviewed by Bouleboubier from New Jersey

3.81/5  rDev -5%
look: 2.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
(750 ml bottle, 2015 classic release, bottled on 02/17/15... poured into a snifter)

L: incredibly-turbid (major chill haze), deep reddish-amber liquid - beyond cloudy; only a thin collar, no lace...

S: caramel, leather, dried apricot and apple, candied grapefruit and orange peel, ghostly hint of piney hops, faint sweetish booze... redolent dried fruits, robust caramel malts - inviting enough overall, with no off-aromas or signs of major damage

T: hard-clipped medium-dark caramel, dark cookie malt note... spicy-fruity finish with a touch of pithy bitterness, reminding me of one of those Sanpellegrino flavored seltzers... heavy grapefruit essence builds on palate with each sip... even at this age, the hops still maintain a slight edge in prominence over the malt

F: round about medium-bodied with a subtle jet fuel heat cutting through a bit and pushing it along, but a finely-shredded, frayed expanse of hop oils and malt sugars lend a light silty, fuzzy, static texture throughout, eliminating any definition or contour... keeping with the flavor theme, this does feel like a barleywine with some unfiltered grapefruit juice blended in

O: bought this a few months back at a distributor in South Philly that anecdotally doesn't go to great lengths to establish balance in temperature control throughout the seasons - the look and taste of this bottle does indicate a rough life... in spite of that, its core flavors haven't come close to suffering total devastation, though if one were to buy a bottle of this age with its history, don't expect greatness - maybe pair it up with overpowering foods, or use it as an ingredient in cooking
Mar 04, 2018
 
Rated: 4.5 by RochefortChris from North Carolina

Feb 28, 2018
 
Rated: 3.88 by csmrx7 from Canada (AB)

Feb 12, 2018
Old Guardian Barley Wine Style Ale (2012) from Stone Brewing
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 2046 ratings