Triple Exultation
Eel River Brewing Co.

Oct. 2016: 650 ml bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9.7%. Dark brown colour, large beige head. Aroma of rich malts and fruity and earthy hops. Medium sweet flavour, malty first, followed by fruity hops and a very resinous and earthy massive bitterness.

 

 

From a bomber into a Perfect Pint glass, it pours a hazy brown color with a small brown-tan head. Nose of very sugary sweet malt and honey. In the mouth, it’s richly malty up front, like a sweet, alcoholic malta beverage with an immediate hit of bitter hops. Slightly peppery flavor. There might be some dark fruit hidden in there but it’s hard to sort it out. 9.7% abv peeks through a bit, and the finish is dry and bitter with hints of dark chocolate. Very “big” flavor profile. Mouth is a bit on the thin side but quite crisp, accentuating the heavy alcohol profile. Overall: A bit disappointing as a barleywine. Certainly very “big” flavor but bigger isn’t always better. I’d have appreciated some subtlety or at least some way to sort out everything that’s going on with the palate. Not bad but a bit underwhelming.

Appearance - The beer poured a murky brown color with a bubbly head.

Smell - Sweet color blended with bitter hops in the nose.

Taste - The overall profile had a nice sweet caramel presence. The sweetness faded quickly into hops. The bitterness was not overly strong and provided a nice sense of balance.

Mouthfeel - Since the bottle said this was a barleywine, I thought it was a touch thin.

Overall - This was a nice surprise, considering the lower ratings from the BA community.

Dark copper with a ruddy hue. Almost kind of rusty, both in colour as well as like... opacity/saturation. Nice little off white head that looks much better in the can glass than in the snulip.

Nose is sweet, but not like... not in the way I expected. There's some caramely and that but there's also a lot of like... cola and higher notes similar to like a tarragon or something as opposed to the rich low and middle notes I associate with caramel or toffee or that.

Definitely rich and sweet on the tongue. There's less of the high tarragon/cola here, for which I am grateful, and there's a bit more caramel, and a lot of earthy bitterness that bridges nicely with the leather and spicy tobacco character. Finish is dull earthy bitter.

Rich and sweet and bitter there's a brief swell of carbonation but it never really establishes itself. More oily than chewy, but somewhat sticky. Bitter and lingering.

I love barleywines. I like old ales a lot as well. This is an ok one. I enjoy it, but I think a lot of that is that I'm already predisposed based on the style. Nothing wrong with that. I'm glad for this bottle but don't necessarily see myself adding it to the 'cellar' or anything.

This is a bottle from the 2018 batch, 7 or 8 months old at this point, just came from the fridge at the store today
Pours a muddy red/amber with a thin off white head that does not move. Still, murky beer.
Smell is dull malty caramel. Not an aromatic beer.
Taste is raisins and cherry cola. warms into an oaky vaniila bread.
Mouthfeel is decent, thick and still. very viscous. Syrupy and coats the tongue
This is a weird beer. I feel like I owe it more time. But that seems too demanding. It's very big. It's not especially bold. I feel the urge to bury it for later.

SRM21 hazy initial toffee second prune finished with caramelized fruit.

Billed as barley wine style ale, but not as pronounced as I expected. The high alcohol (9.7%) was not evident. Also drier than I would have thought. Price point was very low for a beer of its caliber.

22oz bought from Florida. I think it had a bout a year of age on it.

Interesting beer. It was labeled as a barleywine, although it is listed here as an old ale. I remember that it was very strong tasting, and yet there were some interesting flavors going on in it. I couldn't decide if it showed up as a barleywine or an old ale. Still, not something I would likely buy again with all of the other options in the market.

 

 

 

2017 22oz bottle poured into a snifter.

Look - Beautiful mahogany oak with caramel 1/4 finger head that provides average lacing. It's just dark enough that I can't see through the glass.

Smell - Nice strong spicy aroma with carmalized fruit, possibly plum. A hint of honey as well.

Taste - At first, this is a spicy beer, juniper berries. A bit more spice forward than I was expecting. Spice isn't necessarily a bad thing at all, but it's very prevalent in this old ale. Almost feel like there's some more frut complexity here but it's being masked by the spice. After letting the beer warm for a bit, I was stil getting a lot of spice but did get hints of caramel.

Mouthfeel - Very warming mouthfeel, good thick viscosity as well. Minimal to zero carbonation.

Overall - Honestly, I was a little let down with this old ale (labeled as Barleywine, though I feel like Barleywine's are typically sweeter). Felt as though the spice combined with a pretty high bitterness really brought the potential of this beer down. Really felt like the spiciness/warming sensation of this beer could have been a bit more subdued to allow the caramel and plum flavor to come through a bit more.

 

 

Got a bottle of this when I visited a very good friend of mine in Northern California and went to this brewery with him. This is the 2017 and I aged it in my cellar for a few years before opening it. Poured into my snifter, this beer is a pretty dark brown color that really doesn't seem interested in letting in any light at all, even when held directly up to the light. Has a slightly off-white/tan head that's about an inch thick when first poured that eventually settles to a thick ring lining the inside of the glass along with big cluster film layer swirls of foam on the beer's surface. Pretty good lacing. Aromas of bready, somewhat toasted, caramel malt and molasses sweetness along with hints of dates and plum. The taste is pretty much the same, with some bready and toasted caramel malt and molasses sweetness that gives way to dark fruit notes of date and plum. Has just a hint of earthy hops with a slight touch of bitterness that adds some balance, yet I don't feel this beer is overly sweet either. Has a slightly crisp, mostly smooth and frothy, slightly chewy and sticky, medium bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. One of the lighter bodied barley wines I've certainly ever had. Has a slightly dry aftertaste. An interesting beer for sure.

Eric

This is the newest 2017 version of Triple E, billed as a "Barleywine style Ale." Not sure if the formulation has changed or just the branding.

Pours a beautiful garnet red/brown into a snifter. Slight head that forms into a ring. Slight curtain-style lacing on the glass. Aroma is faint, but I get malt, dark fruit, and slight coffee. Not overpowering at all.

Taste is tobacco, an "old ale" malt with undercurrent of currants, sticky toffee, a bitterness I wasn't expecting instead of a sweeter taste I was. Tobacco, smoke. A tinge of raisin but not really the "barleywine" quality here. Rich, chewy, and full bodied but yet it doesn't drink as a stout either. Not enough roast.

Because of the bitterness, it seems closer to Arrogant Bastard than Old Guardian. For almost 10%, not very boozy although there's a warming aspect. Interesting take on barleywine, calling that may seem to be a misnomer, really a strong ale in my mind; good for sipping, not too desserty.