Sugar & Spice
Martin House Brewing Company

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From:
Martin House Brewing Company
 
Texas, United States
Style:
American Barleywine
ABV:
12%
Score:
88
Avg:
3.95 | pDev: 12.41%
Reviews:
6
Ratings:
51
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 05, 2021
Added:
Dec 28, 2013
Wants:
  5
Gots:
  10
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.25 by jeschaefer from Texas

Sep 05, 2021
 
Rated: 4 by RiceOwls27 from Texas

Apr 13, 2020
 
Rated: 3.3 by aatazebeats from Wisconsin

Jun 28, 2019
 
Rated: 3.9 by kkarimi from Texas

Mar 06, 2019
 
Rated: 2.85 by timmy2b from New York

Feb 13, 2019
 
Rated: 3.98 by Karibourgeois from Texas

Jan 25, 2019
 
Rated: 4.06 by MI_beerdrinker from Texas

Dec 11, 2018
 
Rated: 3.5 by bundy462 from Texas

Dec 09, 2018
 
Rated: 3.83 by Hooley from Texas

Dec 08, 2018
 
Rated: 3.25 by Nick4444 from Texas

Sep 10, 2018
Photo of JohnDee
Reviewed by JohnDee from Texas

4/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Hazy dark amber with an off-white head. Spicy-sweet aroma with hints of apple, brown sugar, fig, raisin, stone fruit, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The taste is boozy, sweet, and spicy, and like the smell has hints of stone fruit, apple, and fig. Reminds me of a quad in its complexity or perhaps a whiskey. Medium bodied. Very enjoyable.
Apr 06, 2018
 
Rated: 4.08 by rsuarez1982 from Texas

Feb 04, 2018
 
Rated: 4.04 by n2pux from Texas

Dec 29, 2017
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

2.43/5  rDev -38.5%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.5
Impression from a can nabbed at Trader Joe's in Austin:

"Spiced American barleywine." 12% ABV. "Made in Texas by Texans" (so I guess they're either not hiring any out-of-state brewers or they're just lying to consumers for marketing purposes?). Canned 11/15/17.

Served chilled into a conical pint glass.

APPEARANCE: The head is somewhat creamy and is khaki in colour. Head retention is good for the high ABV - ~8 minutes.

Body colour is a clear amber-copper. No yeast/lees are visible within; it's obviously a filtered beer.

Appears well-carbonated. Far from unique or special, and certainly not amongst the best barleywine appearances I've encountered, but it's not a poor appearance.

AROMA: Caramel, amber malt sweetness, graham cracker, artificial sweetness (as though sugar or natura i.e. artificiall flavour was added), toffee, cardamom, cinnamon, imitation vanilla extract, barrel sugar-like sweetness, sage, and some tingly mint family herbs.

Not very appealing given its high sweetness, but at least it's not boozy. No overt off-notes are detected. Tends towards a more English yeast profile than an American one by my estimation, but apparently I'm wrong as they bill this as an American barleywine. Hop presence is mild.

TASTE: The spices lend it an overt artificiality which is off-putting coupled with its unnecessary high sweetness. It's not as boozy as its 12% ABV had me expecting, but that's probably the best thing I can say about it. It's a muddled mess of a beer lacking vivid distinct flavours and depth of flavour.

I do find some caramel and herb bouncing around as well as generic floral hop flavour. I was wrong in terms of yeast; this does tend towards an American ale yeast profile.

Nutmeg, imitation vanilla, clove, cinnamon, caradamom.

TEXTURE: Thick and sticky, flirting with syrupy. Smooth, wet, unrefreshing, heavy on the palate, and chewy. Combined with its saccharine taste, this coating mouthfeel has me mentally reminding myself to schedule a dental checkup.

OVERALL: A subpar barleywine across the board. Very forgettable fare that neither nails a classic barleywine flavour nor steers enough into the "spiced" skid to stand out in the category. I'll easily finish the can I got and its well disguised 12% ABV will prove quite the wallop, but I couldn't recommend this to either discerning or casual drinkers and I definitely wouldn't entertain the idea of purchasing it again.

*Update: I checked Martin House's website after reviewing this and discovered it's brewed with piloncillo, which helps explain that problematic sweetness it suffers from. This would undoubtedly have been better without all the unnecessary additives.

D+ (2.43) / NOT RECOMMENDED
Dec 14, 2017
 
Rated: 4 by Jame515 from Texas

Dec 06, 2017
 
Rated: 3.85 by sd123 from Georgia

Jun 17, 2017
Photo of kevinobryan
Reviewed by kevinobryan from Texas

4.15/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.25
Great dark amber color. The initial sip packs an extremely sweet punch for me, as I'm not a big fan of sweetness. However, it's not a lingering sweetness. Has a great aftertaste. I can space the time between sips and this is a very drinkable beer for me. Awesome winter beer with the spices.
Feb 01, 2017
 
Rated: 4.25 by Bryan12345 from Texas

Jan 06, 2017
 
Rated: 3.31 by cmcquirk from Arkansas

Jan 03, 2017
 
Rated: 3.77 by cwreay90 from Texas

Dec 27, 2016
Sugar & Spice from Martin House Brewing Company
Beer rating: 88 out of 100 with 51 ratings