Continuum
Voodoo Brewing Co.

Bottled 3/2022
I have to say I'm not very enamored with this one. It has elements from extended barreling that I like, plenty of wood, lots of leather, strong molasses with a burned raisin edge to it, and as potent a note of pipe tobacco as any I've found at the finish. It just kind of seems like maybe the barleywine that went into barrels couldn't stand up to all that time in wood. There just isn't much actual beer to be found here. I do get a fleeting, old jammy note but no other fruit and no caramel or toffee. Not much in the way of sweetness at all.

Splitting a bottle pour with the better half. Dark in color, but light is able to seep through. Nose is bourbon and barrel, sweeter than a spirit. Flavors are complex, leaning towards leather/tobacco with a noticable bite of bourbon. Finishes clean and not sweet. Most excellent.

poured from a 12oz bottle into a SP BBT21 light bulb snifter. pours a slightly see-through cardboard brown but gathers in the glass a little muddier brown water with a thin tan foam cap. heavy bourbon, oak, toffee and figs on the nose. taste is bourbon, toffee, caramel, molasses and oak. medium-full mouthfeel with a lower level of carbonation. it’s maybe not as sticky as some of the better barrel-aged barleywines but it’s not thin by any means. this is an aggressively bourbon-forward English barleywine that’s as malty as it is full of dark fruits. really excellent.

 

 

Up there with the best. Toffee and leather dominate. The beer is unique and touches barleywine notes that i can't really put my finger on, but are extremely complimentary of the style. Its oily and viscous, oh so very sweet and chewy.

Drinking this for the second time 5-28-22 and legitimately consider this world class and one of the best barleywines ive ever had. My brief former review stands but I'll add the common descriptor of brown sugar - this beer probably bodies it more than any of the other 1500 I've reviewed. The barrel is hot. Its an explosion of heat and sweetness with incredibly high notes of each without either being offensive. Its a really barleywine and beer in general. What it lacks is a chalkyness/leatheriness that I love in a barrel aged barleywine. I feel like this beer is probably the best candidate for aging of any beer i have ever drank. Literally the only improvement I want in this barleywine is some oxidation and leatheriness. Given how sweet it is i feel like this beer could go an eternity before ever offsetting the sweet:oxidized ratio. I want more.

April 2022 poured to a Voodoo BRC snifter. Fair amount of wood on the nose. First sips bring a dry woodiness up front, followed by one of those, what I’ll call a stout-middle body, type “English” barleywines. Is this a new trend or an homage to the original profile? I like it, though it is not the spicy, heavy, caramel type English flavor I prefer. Very smooth drink…maybe “too” smooth? Alcohol hides up front and on the rear, but it’s a big beer at 12.7%. Nothing to fault it on flavor-wise. Price-wise at $25 and a round trip to Erie, IDK. I usually like beers aged on Weller, but maybe the wheated barrels are too subtle for my caveman tastes.

 

The dull black body, displaying a dark cola brown at times, builds a wavy tan foam head of moderately short height that clings in fine ridges.

Oh god it's off to a great start with dark caramels and Reisen, which are #life characteristics I love but never expected from a Voodoo barleywine based on past experiences. Barrel char and vanillin delectably support the caramel ribbons as the exhale further amps things up with bruleed oats and brown sugar accented by a kiss of honey bourbon. As it warms, some dark fruits, like deliciously spiced dates and Raisinets, develop.

The smoothly rounded medium body finishes just shy of syrupy sticky, but an assertively peppery barrel and playfully tingly carbonation keeps it from translating as overly sweet. Further complexities continue to develop on the exhale with a potpourri of Dr. Pepper just as the glass is almost emptied.

I can't wait to see how this has developed next winter, as I'm sure it'll be all too soon before its return. Kudos to Voodoo for making their first truly great barleywine.