Barleywine Style Ale 2013 Vintage Red Wine Barrel Aged
Smuttynose Brewing Company

Thanks to Smanson56 for this one. 16oz bottle poured into 14oz teku. Poured a barely translucent dark ruby-brown color with about 1/3 inch of light brown head that OK retention, and no lacing.

The aroma. Oh, the aroma. As soon as I cracked the cap, a full, dark, rich, fruity, malty scent wafted across the room. Amazeballs. The taste, you ask? All that and 3 bags of chips. The wood comes out, all the flavors tie together extremely nicely. Quintuple amazeballs.

The body was, perhaps, a touch lighter than I had hoped, but, was not thin by any stretch of the imagination. While not actually "dry", the finish was waaaay drier than I could have hoped. Drinkability was off the rails. A 12% brew (over 8 years ago) that is smoother than most of the currently popular Murkbombs? Yes please!

Overall, fucking stunning. Just stunning. Almost speechless I am.

 

This barleywine pours a dark, murky brown color with a slight red tint and a fairly small white head. The smell is of dark fruit, dark bread, and alcohol with mild sweetness and some light red wine notes. It is pretty intoxicating and suitably complex for a barleywine. The taste has a good amount of dark fruit (e.g. prunes and dates) with some mild cherry notes, but I think that it has even more of a dark, sweet bread aspect with brown sugar and caramel being apparent. This is a very malt heavy beer, probably being surpassed only by things like stouts, porters, and perhaps doppelbocks. The extreme maltiness actually dampens the alcohol flavor that is usually very apparent in barleywines and makes it a little more easy drinking. This is amazingly a 12% beer, but I feel like I could put down a few of these pretty quickly, dangerous stuff. The body is of course heavy and the finish has a nice lingering quality. My only disappointment is that there is only a mild flavor imparted by the wine barrels, but maybe that's for the best anyway. This is a very good, malt forward barleywine.

 

 

 

Bottle from the Brewery
Slightly hazy deep copper color with a decent sized bubbly tan head that recedes quickly. Huge Brown sugary toffee and dark dried fruits on the nose with a firm hit of alcohol and some light sherry oxidation. The flavor is sweet big and bold. Vinous fruity dark sugary flavor with plenty of warming. Light vanilla and oak tannin round this out nicely. Its a sipper for sure but pretty damn tasty!

One-off 16.9oz bottle from the brewery, for $14.00.... Enjoying today during some football....

Poured into a small tulip, it is a murky, deep chestnut hue with hardly any light shining through anywhere. Head is wispy thin, with some scattered beige foam clinging to the edge. Lacing is on the light side. Nose has some light toffee, mild red wine notes, and some earthyness. It is exceedingly smooth, and more than medium though not full-bodied.

Taste is nice, with some caramel and toffee contributing light sweetness. Has lots of dark fruit: prunes, date, currants and black cherry overlaying a hint of molasses. There's a lot of burnt brown sugar floating around, with more subtle winey, vinous notes and a touch of tobacco. Has some hints of earthy hopping, though overall it's the dark fruit that prevails in this nice warming brew. Not bad.... Prosit!

4.18/5 rDev n/a
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

1875