XS Old Crustacean
Rogue Ales

2013 vintage. Poured from a beautiful ceramic bomber into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Cloudy copper pour with 1.5 fingers of off-white head. Nice ring of lacing.

S: Hops and malts. Big and boozy.

T.F: Just like it smells. Semi-sweet toasted malts/grains. Loads of pine... caramel and citrus. Earth and spice... more citrus and fruit. Boozy and warming. Medium bodied... moderate bitterness. More malts/hops to finish.

O: A big but fairly drinkable American Barleywine. Lots going on, and for being nearly 7 years in the cellar this one held up quite well. Bonus points for such a gorgeous bottle.

 

It smells malty, funky and strong.

Bitterness hits you first and then a ton of complex malts and yeasts.

Thin bodied with a long fruity bitter finish.

Really good 4.8 out of 6

A little too hoppy for my taste but a good American style Barleywine.

Bottle, under some obscure Japanese name, sampled at HaandBryggeriet, Drammen, Norway. Deep copper colour, decent beige head. Intense aroma and flavour dominated by caramel malts, plenty of sweetness. Full and rich mouthfeel. Pretty impressive, I guess, if you’re on the caramel wagon.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a reddish-brown, darker and leaning more towards the brown. Head is creamy, pillowy, leaves behind some nice lacing. Smell is molasses and pine, fairly faint. Taste is bready malt, molasses, pine, caramel, and dark fruits. Medium body. Really benefited from warming up, at first the bitterness from the hops was quite powerful, warmth allows for the softer fruit and sweet notes to come out.

 

 

L: Dark golden amber colors.
S: Strong barley wine flavors.
T: Strong ride of strange dark flavors.
F: Very heavy and dark.
O: A very dark beer unlike any other that exists.

2016 bottling

Appearance: Pours a tawny burnt orange color with a rocky two finger ecru head; good retention and plenty of lacing action

Smell: Resinous pine tones abound, with notes of char, molasses, raisin, cherry and cocoa

Taste: Resinous, with cocoa and molasses forward; the raisin, cherry add a fruity dimension; through the middle, an earthy/piney bitterness builds powerfully as the 105 IBUs take over and dominate the finish

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with moderate carbonation

Overall: Not in the very top echelon of barleywines I have tasted but not far off, either

 

A rich amber mahoganny hue which captures an array of glowing autumnal radiance. There's a thin veil of pillowy lace that rests atop. Has a strong note of diesel on first whiff which develops into a burnt caramel sweetness. The sip is reminiscent of an oaked cognac with flavors that dance on your palate.

This is the 2013, in my cellar for five years. And it is sublime, a really heavenly beer drinking experience. It is only fair to say though that after five years in the bottle it’s not very beautiful. It does have a nice head, even after this long, and a nice orangish barleywine glow, but it’s a bit muddy at this point. But the aroma is a different matter entirely, one of the most wonderful I have ever encountered. Sharp with hops - again, even after five years - rich with honeyed malts, it is so powerful that is just explodes into my olfactory senses. And the taste is just as amazing, so complex that it is different with every sip. There are berries and caramel and smoke and brown sugar and tart apples and much, much more. The feel is excellent, with balanced body and carbonation. Fabulous, one of the best beers to ever come out of my cellar.
Update: tonight I cracked another that had been in the cellar for two years (though dated 2015). It’s excellent, but not nearly the equal of the 5-year-old. I’d give it somewhere in the 4.3 range.