Honey Rye Barley Wine Ale
10 Barrel Brewing Co.

Pours dark murky brown with a smallish tan cap that leaves minimal lacing. Aroma is fruity, tart cherries and apples, some caramel and malt. Some funkiness like I would expect from a Farmhouse Saison. Flavor follows the nose, a bit sweet at first but quickly transforming to a funkiness that makes me wonder. Feel is light bodied and well carbonated. Overall, not what I expected an English style Barleywine to taste like. Nice beer that doesn't fit my interpretation of the style.

Bottle from Albertsons, the markdown bin no less. What a steal! 2016 release date. Pours out a murky brown, small bubbly head. Aroma is malty and sweet, some fruity notes, boozy too. Taste is more of the sweet malty notes, honey and rye both having their influence. Warmth rises up from the beginning, stays on all the way through, with enough heat left over to warm the gullet. I was advised that it was a dog, if so, its a Westminster best of breed.

 

 

Fie! So many good IPAs on the West Coast that one begins to dream of something big, brutal, & nasty. Something with rye. Honey. Double digit IPAs that will make hiking unpleasant tomorrow. Lo! 22 oz. bottle with gold wax thick enough to deal with the most Amazonian legs.

Having no special tools, the six inch thick wax is like trying to conquer Moria with a butter knife. Once freed, the brew comes out dark amber with plenty of copper, my favorite. Smells like a light brandy.

Honey Rye Barley Wine Ale makes me realize I'm already near drunk. The tastes is an odd amalgamation - damn, I got that right the first time! - of flavors. There's a colony full of honey on top, & a solid dousing of alcohol. The rye shows demurely, with vague spicing, no wood, but doubtless contributes to the addling alcohol. Finishes with a long, lingering bout of malt sweetness. Full. The honeyed sweetness lends a drinkability that's dangerous in a beer with 6% ABV. Oh, wait. Shiiiit.

Honey booze here. Luckily I like honey, mainline Hopslam, & raid the hives of bees when I get bored. But if you're going to charge a premium for barrel aging, I'd like to be able to taste it. Very good beer.

I believe I had this beer at Flyboy Brewing in Lake Oswego, Oregon. It was a honey rye barleywine, at least 10 abv.

Served in a chablis glass, it was a murky golden brown, with thick creamy head, though low carbonation. A litle reminiscent of a Belgian sour, not fruity, but ever so slightly funky. Not as malty as doppelbochs, and definitely not as dark. Not overly spicey or hopped, but flavorful, and sippable. My one disappointment was that it did not carry any fruit esther overtones of banana or vanilla which I've tasted in other barleywines, and not really a lot of biscuit or sweetness. A bit of lemony raisin.

Different. Nice.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark mahogany brown with a modest khaki head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, dark fruit and hint of cherry.Flavor is caramel malt, plums, dates, light cherry getting increasingly tart into a tart cherry and apple finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A novel take on the English barleywine style; starts out fairly close to the profile with the honey and dark fruit flavors melding well, but then the rye really asserts itself giving way to a lightly tart finish mild sour cherry and hints of lemon in the mix. While I'm pretty sure this is what was intended for this barleywine, the rye tartness here was somewhat unexpected (even though I knew it was a rye style) and it tasted momentarily off. As I adjusted my expectations, the flavors became more interesting. Although I enjoy rye in lighter ales, I'm not sure the tartness quite worked for me, I wanted the malty sweetness that the aroma and start seemed to offer. Well made and delivers exactly what it promises - barley wine malt, light honey and rye tartness.

 

Look: One finger brown head, brown-orange body.

Smell: See below.

Taste: Cherries, dark fruits, oak, mild honey, mild spicyness.

Feel: Medium body and carbonation, no alcohol presence, and a slight tangy-ness which is strange. Maybe it's infected, idk. Pretty balanced for a barleywine.