Arquebus 2016, French Oak White Wine Barrel Aged
Cambridge Brewing Company

This is for the French Oak Tokaji barrel finish version of the 2016 Arquebus.

Pours a dirty blonde like Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, a good Cambridge boy. It's grapey. White wine finish. Honey character up front. It's rich. Different.

375ml bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Amber colored with great clarity. Minimal head, it forms a white, quarter-inch cap that settles very quickly. Very thin and delicate rings of lacing.

S: Sweet sauternes wine up front. Raw and floral honey. Toffee, toast, and grain. Subtle and refined oaky vanillins.

T: Follows the nose. A whole lot of sweet and vibrant white grape character up front. Decadently sweet in that dessert wine way. A lot of sugared pear. Vinous with a faint brush of alcohol. Honeyed. Toasty and crusty malt underlying. Subtle oaky backing. Honey and sauternes wine all over the long finish.

M: Rich and thick in body. Lots of residual sugar gives it a coating feel, again, much like a good sauterne. Silky malt textures as well. Well carbonated with a blast of lifting and scrubbing bubbles. Great feel.

O: This is rare and special stuff. The mash-up of blonde barleywine and sauternes wine is one that sounds great on paper, but the execution here really elevates it beyond expectation. It all melds rather seamlessly into a delicious and unique drinking experience. It feels downright luxurious.

Pours mostly clear amber orange with a creamy off-white foam head. Rich aromas of toasty golden malty grains, apple, sweet white grape, golden raisins, pear, dried fruit, apricot, date, prune, honey, light caramel, toffee, white wine oak barrel, with floral earthy grassy piney hops. Tastes extremely rich and extravagant, sweet sauternes wine, vinous Semillon white grape must, honey, toasty bready golden malty grains, apple, golden raisins, pear, dried fruit, apricot, dates, prune, light caramel, toffee, oak barrel, some waxy lanolin, with floral earthy grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy and slick with low carbonation. Overall a really great sauternes style wine barrel aged barleywine with honey and Semillon grape must.

Though retired and after reading the back of the bottle I'm drinking from, I figured this is the correct entry for me to write what I think of this beer.
This was poured into a snifter.
The appearance was a glossy burnt to orange color with a small cap of white foamy head that slid off fairly quick.
The aroma blended sweet white grapes, a light red delicious apples tone, sweet barrel woodiness, light vanilla and a toned down sort of sweet earthiness on the backside.
The flavor yields to the meshing of the sweetness of it all. Except for the vanilla, that didn't show up at all in this department of taste. Moderate artertaste of red delicious apples, white grapes, pears and sweet earth/sweet wood.
The mouthfeel was between light and medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt close to what was projected. Super nice finish of white grape, red delicious apples, pear and sweet woodiness.
Overall, aromas and flavors were very well done. I wasn't expecting this to be a blonde barleywine, I won't be too harsh on this beer.

 

 

A: The beer is crystal clear golden yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high bright white head that left a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface, a collar around the edge, and specks of lacing down the sides of the glass.
S: Light aromas of Semillon grape must are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, having flavors of Semillon grape must and subtle hints of associated sweetness along with a touch of oak from the barrel aging.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This is a rather interesting beer and almost tastes more like a dessert wine in some aspects, although it isn't nearly as sweet with the underlying malts and hints of oak. Any traces of alcohol are exceptionally well hidden.

Serving type: bottle

 

Aroma is white wine/grapes and creeping malts/alcohol. The flavor is white wine/grapes, fruit/berries, malts, slight funk and a sweetish/warming alcohol finish.

Brewed with honey and wine grapes, aged in wine barrels. Bottle-conditioned.

Poured a deep golden-orange color, lightly hazy. Slim collar of ivory foam slimmed away quickly and with little trace left behind. Aromas of sweet and pale orchard fruits are lightened with wine-like impressions of succulent white grape. Intensely smooth at near-room temperature, gliding all too easily across the tongue. Sweet honeyed fruits are plush and soft, bringing rich, bright, and sweet notes in abundance, again lightened by paler notes of grape flesh and oaky wood tannins. Finishes with a little bit of sticky honey in the corner of the mouth. A terrific barleywine.