Anniversary Barley Wine Ale
Uinta Brewing Company

The color was reddish amber, with maybe more red than amber and a tall beige head that took its sweet time dissipating.
The taste was all about the malts; I got no char or bitterness of any kind. I’m sure there are hops in there but they didn’t stick out anywhere. Just rich tasting malts.
The feel is a little thin for the style, and that makes it dangerously easy to quaff quickly, which is not necessarily a good idea when the ABV is 10.5%.
Enjoyed it very much, smooth and tasty and uncomplicated.

Pint can, super fresh, poured into a nonic glass. Brownish orange brew, proud upstanding foam. Nice lacing.
Aroma is butterscotch malts and sublime hops.
Taste is brown sugar and dark fruit. There’s a Wee Heavy note in there.
Feel is comfortably light for a barleywine, medium carbonation.
Overall, drinkable, fine light hop and & a bit of sweet toffee makes for a good effort. Couldn’t imagine aging this.. ready to go right now!

Went into this thinking it was the Collab barleywine with Kiitos, it's not.

2023 vintage

Pours a chestnut color with a fairly tall off tan head.

Aroma was big malts and fairly hoppy.

Taste follows, though with some dried fruit and slight toffee notes.

Body is thicker and a bit sticky, but otherwise not anything that kept me excited/guessing.

Overall a good barleywine and probably fantastic aged, though I prefer the lower abv Collab version.

I don't know if this is their "Anniversary" barleywine anymore, or just a "plain" barleywine, as the front label only states Barley Wine Ale, and I didn't read the back at the hotel in which we imbibed this night cap.

Appearance is slightly foggy acorn reddish-brown with a tall khaki head that retains well and thick as a bubbly blanket.

A soft froth delivers caramels and light chars with subtle accents of citrus and pine that are mildly bitter and biting before the semi-dry, chewy finish.

A lot less aggressive than the Epic barleywine we had earlier today, there's even a touch of toastiness in the "char," the origin of which I'm not sure.

 

12oz bottle (best by 12/06/17 x) poured into a snifter at the Brass Tap here in Baltimore. Nice dark copper color w/a decent (2-fingers) off white head that dwindles to leave some lacing, a ring, and a suggestion of a cap. Hops are the most notable thing on the nose. Fortunately, they're balanced out - mostly - by malts on the tongue. The feel is substantial & a taf oily. I don't have much experience with this style, but I liked this beer.

 

And now, for the finale of the first half of Uinta Abita New Beer This Sunday, Bro./GEN Woody (Week 721)?! Does anybody else feel a nap coming on?

From the Bottle: "Established 1993"; "Earth, Wind and Beer"; "Established by Uinta Brewing Co Salt Lake City Utah U.S.A"; "For best flavor enjoy in a glass"; "Goes well with Anywhere".

I Pop!ped the cap & was suddenly struck by a bout of sneezing! Was it the beer? I could not wait to find out, so I began a slow, gentle pour into the awaiting glass. It puffed up to form just over a finger of foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with moderate retention, leaving a modicum of lacing behind. Color was Coppery-Brown (SRM = > 17, < 22) with NE-quality clarity. Nose was beautiful - leather, dried dark fruits, caramel, toffee, milk chocolate, weak coffee & a barrel-aged oaky, bourbon-like quality, although I do not believe that this ever touched wood. Hmm. Mouthfeel was full, like a scoop or dollop had been ladled onto my tongue. The taste was less pronounced than the nose, but it had clearly mellowed over the ~ two years in the bottle. The heat was prickly, but not fiery. The caramel & toffee flavors worked really well with the leatheriness while the coffee & chocolate flavors brought up the rear. My bottle was slightly aged, but IMHO, this could have gone a couple/few more years without any complaint from me. Finish was super dry! The yeast had been hard at work on this malty beast, I assure you. This was super smooth & was super smoothing me out. The best part was extreme finish with its kirschwasser-like cherry flavor, along with hints of raisins & prunes as well as brown bread, almost like a liquefied fruitcake. Phew! I have an even older bottle in abeyance …

 

TLDR : This beer is Brown Shugga on steroids.

Rich, sappy caramel color with hints of brown. Nice 2 finger head of yellow-white, recedes to 1/2 finger in a minute.

The aroma of this Barleywine has a perfect balance between sweetness and hops. It's pretty phenomenal. Caramel-toffee meets stiff, woody hops. It's not weighted in either direction, it's simply...perfect. How? What a feat.

Flavor tips more in the hops category, with a firm Nugget bitterness and tons of cone hops. Lots of residual oils as well. This packs a punch. Spearmint. Leather. Some residual caramel sweetness keeps things sticky, while the hops continue to pummel the palate and twist the tongue towards a bitter caramel crunch. Lots of oils on the finish.

Feel is medium-plus bodied, with a sappy quality and a dry, resiny, piney finish.

Overall, this is a palate buster. I respect the hell out of this beer but I simply cannot finish it. It's so in your face, it's like a football game in your mouth. Jock included. It's a Quad IPA with tons of rich caramel flavors. It's like Brown Shugga on steroids. Better than Brown Shugga. I get what they were going for here, and it's spot on. I don't like hoppy Barleywines, but this is incredible for what it is. Definitely pick this up if you like a lot of hops in your Barleywine.

 

 

 

This beer is really dependent on the age. I've tried a few bottles < 1 year old and it's pretty standard, any bottle I've had older than a year has been outstanding.

Uinta has recently switched to a best-before date which appears to be a year from release which confuses me. They should switch the wording to not-best-before.... Unless they've changed the recipe, I'm not sure why they simply don't put the bottled on date.

Overall one of my favourite Barleywines.

Pretty smooth option. Pretty thin and sweet with a tart aftertaste.

from the holiday weekend. 12oz bottle into a glass. Best by October 2017.

Murky deep red amber color. Thick off-white head. Generous lacing.

Aroma of boiled sweets.

Very good hop to malt balance on this one. Mostly sweet, but then there's that sharp hop bite. Alcohol seems more of a suggestion than anything else.

Getting close to full on the mouth, sweet wash and bitter finish.

Overall, nice representation of a balanced american barleywine.