Irish Walker
Olde Hickory Brewery

Irish WalkerIrish Walker
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From:
Olde Hickory Brewery
 
North Carolina, United States
Style:
English Barleywine
Ranked #162
ABV:
10.14%
Score:
89
Ranked #12,570
Avg:
3.96 | pDev: 9.85%
Reviews:
110
Ratings:
361
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 11, 2023
Added:
Dec 25, 2009
Wants:
  47
Gots:
  105
A long slow fermentation and cold aging makes Irish Walker a well rounded, complex Barley Wine Ale. Released only once a year, it exhibits malty sweetness, fruity esters, and hoppy balance. This ale will age well for years to come.
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Photo of DIM
Reviewed by DIM from Pennsylvania

4.07/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
There is an interesting combination of flavors at work here and I'm diggin' it. Lots of sweet toffee up front that is quickly joined by perfumed, potpourri like fruit notes of spiced oranges and cherries. The finish adds light toasty nuts and hints of baker's chocolate. Dry overall, goes down very easy.

Bottled December of 2020, 9.7% abv
Oct 11, 2023
Photo of DumbRunner26
Reviewed by DumbRunner26 from North Carolina

4.14/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
2 yr old bottle. Dark brown with thick fuzzy tan head. Brown leather aroma. Lots going on in the flavor. Plum, dates, and cashews. Heavy on the sweetness. A very malty beer. Mouthfeel is much more carbonated than I anticipated due to the age of the beer. Very smooth and easy to drink, no hint of the alcohol.
Jul 24, 2023
Photo of CarolinaCardinals
Reviewed by CarolinaCardinals from North Carolina

4.16/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Picked up a single from the Appalachian Vintner in Asheville 8-4-22 for $5.22. Bottled 12/22/20; consumed 9-29-22.

Beer poured a murky brown with an okay off-white head.

Nose is nice, dark fruits dominate.

Taste is a large malt base that is figs and plums. Hop addition is light but balancing leaving a slight hint of sweetness.

Mouthfeel is medium to large bodied and very smooth.

Overall, i dig this beer! Very flavorful, a nice sipper on a cool early autumn day!
Sep 29, 2022
 
Rated: 4.31 by MJSFS from Florida

Sep 26, 2021
 
Rated: 4.25 by JamesLeung from Florida

Sep 11, 2021
 
Rated: 3.84 by Taybeh from Minnesota

Sep 06, 2021
Photo of jkblr
Reviewed by jkblr from Indiana

3.99/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12oz bottled 12/22/20 (about 7 months ago) poured into a snifter after a 20 minute warm up from fridge temp 9.7% ABV per label. The beer pours opaque medium brown in color with tan colored head. The head never really gets going, even on a hard pour. It starts and ends in a thin ring and island. Minimal lacing. The aroma is mild and semisweet in nature. Dark, dried fruits, toffee and old leather are notable. The taste is semisweet toffee with an immediate moderate English hop bitterness and flavor. There is some alcohol in the taste, but it's subtle and ok for the style. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. Overall, very good.
Aug 03, 2021
Photo of josanguapo
Reviewed by josanguapo from Spain

3.5/5  rDev -11.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
De Labirratorium. En copa teku. No está mal, pero resulta áspera y muy alcohólica, no aportando la base maltosa suficiente presencia como para animar a repetirla.
Mar 16, 2021
 
Rated: 3.58 by StoutAtTheDevil from Alabama

Feb 26, 2021
 
Rated: 4.09 by SFNC from North Carolina

Jan 15, 2021
Photo of Ozzylizard
Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.88/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Irish Walker from Olde Hickory Brewery. Received 10/8/20 from @nc41 in BIF 12. Reviewed 11/2/20.
12 oz bottle stamped on front label “bottled on 02/13/20”. Stored at home at 42 degrees and served at 60 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 61.7 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Medium amber (SRM 12), clear.
Body – Amber brown (SRM 18), murky and opaque. When held to direct light, same.
Head – Tiny (Maximum five mm, aggressive center pour), tan, fizzy, short retention, diminishing to a one mm crown fed by lazy effervescence and no cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.5 – Caramel malty, no hops, no yeast. Not very strong.
Flavor – 4 – Begins slightly sweet with weak caramel and toffee. No hops, no yeast. No alcohol (9 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma but gastric warming reaches that sweet spot between too little and inferno. There are some additional odd flavors I can’t place, probably some more complex alcohols. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Full, just short of creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 A decent take on an English-style barleywine – good nose and palate – but a bit short on flavor.
Nov 02, 2020
Photo of hman43
Reviewed by hman43 from North Carolina

4.29/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Look: It pours brown with a tan head. It has reddish hues when held up tot he light. Head retention is low.

Smell: It has nuts and toffee in the aroma. There are raisin notes with a bit of an herbal note and a slight alcohol note.

Taste: It has malty rich with nuts, toffee, and caramel. There are raisin flavors with a slight dark chocolate note. It has an herbal note to it as well.

Feel: It has a full, somewhat chewy body with alcohol warming. It has a finish that is on the sweet side.

Overall, the flavors are complex, the alcohols are enjoyable, a quality beer.
Sep 27, 2020
 
Rated: 4.12 by BadgerNCarolina from North Carolina

Jul 08, 2020
 
Rated: 3.43 by CheapBeerBuzz from California

Dec 31, 2019
 
Rated: 3.76 by vfgccp from New York

Oct 11, 2019
Photo of Sabtos
Reviewed by Sabtos from Ohio

2.23/5  rDev -43.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.75 | overall: 2
Dull cola reddish-black with bubbly tan fuzz unevenly displayed on top of the surface.

This one is sweet of woody raisin with a thin watery body that has a bubbly rising carbonation. Additional sweet notes of bright red grapes and even super fruity raspberry and sweet bright red cherry take this totally out of barleywine territory for me, as the only non-fruity flavor I get is a bit of stale wet graham before the cardboard dry finish.
Mar 06, 2019
Photo of StonedTrippin
Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado

4.18/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
i love this kind of beer, old school barleywine, and i love it this time of year. this is a brilliant example of the style, and overall a splendid beer. in my limited experience with these guys, these strong ales are what they do best! a deep mahogany color to this, a frothy khaki head with great retention and lace. deeply concentrated long boiled aroma to it, dense toffee and sticky bread pudding notes, molasses and also a cool drier earthy kilned malt thing, nutty and dusty even, english and irish, with some character to the yeast too, old worldy and sturdy. the booziness is there, which i like in the style, and a neat wintery sort of hop complexion, bitter and spicy both. the flavor is like the nose, but the malt depth is unrivaled, dates and dried cherries and boozy raisins, toffee and caramel, a cool sappy sort of lower end too, bran and dark bread, warming alcohol ties it all together. baked and warming, cold weather beer at its finest, this is the kind of thing i could pour on a lazy saturday morning and enjoy with sausage and potatoes, and then let warms up for like the next five hours with a book. very impressive stuff, decidedly old school, but i love what the hops add too. killer example of the style here.
Oct 07, 2018
 
Rated: 4.28 by leprechaunandfatman from Ohio

Jun 24, 2018
 
Rated: 4.15 by BeardedWalrus from North Carolina

Jun 08, 2018
Photo of avalon07
Reviewed by avalon07 from South Carolina

4.04/5  rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
L: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a dark amber color and a thick and cloudy consistency. There was a half inch of foamy, off white, somewhat long-lasting head. Pretty good lacing.

S: A nice aroma of hops, caramel, malt, citrus fruit, and some dark fruit.

T: Tasted of a bit if citrus fruit (mostly orange), a fair amount of malt, a good shot of hops (not too much, though), some dark fruit (raisins, figs), brown sugar, and molasses. A different flavor than what I expected, but still likable. There's a definitely subtlety to it, with the sweetness of the fruit and sugars mixing well with the hops.

F: A well-carbonated beer with a sharp finish. Medium-bodied.

O: On the whole, a well made and tasty barleywine. Certainly worth checking out.
May 15, 2018
Irish Walker from Olde Hickory Brewery
Beer rating: 89 out of 100 with 361 ratings