White Label Barley Wine Old Smokey Moonshine BA
Brouwerij Emelisse

February 2017: Shared 330 ml at local tasting. Dark brown colour, no head. Malty aroma, notes of molasses, oak and bourbon, but not as distinct as expected. Rounded sweet flavour, malty with notes of molasses, fairly distinct notes of oak, bourbon and vanilla.

 

Sampled at Borefts After Fest 2016, Kaapse, and later from a bottle. Dark pour with a tan head. Notes of caramel, toffee, subtle dried fruit, tons of bourbon, vanilla and toasted coconut. Smooth texture, full body, low carbonation and a nice bitter-sweet finish. An amazing barleywine, they nailed the barrel on this one perfectly.

Mahogany color with a bit of beige foam with large bubbles. Aroma is dried fruit forward with figs, dates and raisin notes. Also caramel and woody/earthy notes. Taste starts with really nice toffee and caramel, continues with an aromatic wood bitterness and lingers on the aftertaste with butterscotch flavor. Medium body, slightly sticky, soft carbonation. You can feel it’s a big beer but it’s not too sweet, actually it has a healthy dose of bitterness, making it dangerously drinkable. After it warms up, you can taste the booze but it's not too bad.

Great beer.
L - Very dark brown, I was expecting something lighter

S - toffee, vanilla, prunes, hints of whisky, quite complex and rounded by alcohol

T - Vanilla, oak, burnt caramel, vinous notes (red berries, grape, prunes), a bit sweet, quite complex but balanced. A bit boozy too

M - Low carbonation, very smooth

O - A great barrel aged barleywine. Very different from the heaven hill barrel aged barleywine I've had from them. This one is more balanced, less hoppy (not hoppy at all), more complex too.

Very little head. Dark caramel brown color.

I don't know what kind of barrels these are but they work well with this barleywine. A little heat, but mainly smooth. Caramel, toffee, oak, whiskey, and vanilla. Very malty. Raisins, pears, and licorice. Coconut notes.

Full bodied. Thick.

This one impressed me a lot. I was very surprised with this. No idea who these guys are, but really impressed me.

 

Got this one from Duvel guy in Utrecht

From a bottle into a snifter
EBC: 55
EBU: 49
26.5*P

APPEARANCE: Pours a 2 finger, medium looking, creamy off-white head with excellent retention. Opaque maroon brown or red with no carbonation evident. Head slowly recedes to a full wisp and sticks to the sides of the glass. Splotchy wisp remains leaving some decent lacing down the glass. Good looking.

SMELL: Oak, toffee, vanilla cream, whisky, notes of butterscotch and caramel on the nose. Alcohol as well. Bold enough.

TASTE: Oak, toffee, caramel, alcohol and some sweet vanilla cream flavors up front. Flavorful and lots going on. Some booze and whisky at the swallow with a bold and lingering finish of whisky, oak, vanilla cream, toffee, caramel, notes of butterscotch, some leather and decent alcohol under it all. Pretty flavorful, characterful and lingers nicely on the palate.

PALATE: Medium body and carbonation. Semi-creamy on the palate, a touch prickly, goes down fine with a bit of a burn and finishes somewhat mouth-coating. A decent amount of heat lingers.

OVERALL: Another winner. Really good BA barley wine with lots going on. Look and feel are nice as well. Most of these Emelisse white label barley wines and imperial stouts are top class and this one is no different. Definitely worth a shot if you find it. Recommended.