Brew 5000
Fremont Brewing Company

Review: 2540
Name: Brew 5000
Brewery: Fremont Brewing
Location: Seattle, WA
Style: Barrel-Aged English Barleywine
ABV: 12.2%
Canned: 2021
Date: 19 January 2026
I am going vertical for the following few reviews. I am serving it at 56 degrees in a tulip glass; the pour formed a foamy, half-fingered light tan head with poor retention. The beer's color is dark brown, with dark mahogany-red hues, opaque, and charts at SRM 34. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass, and the liquid showed no visible head. The beer's overall appearance is average for this style, considering the high abv.
Swirling the glass, I took a few sniffs. I smell bourbon, anise, toffee, caramel, char, alcohol, chocolate, light-roasted coffee, vanilla, and earthiness. Nosing the glass again, I notice leather, molasses, brown sugar, light tobacco, dark roasted malts, bready, and raisins.
The barrel flavors are bourbon, oak, char, and a light orange—next sip: dark fruits, chocolate, light-roasted coffee, molasses, caramel, and leather. After a few nips, I notice vanilla, raisins, toffee, light smokiness, dark-roasted malts, bread, and earthiness.
The mouthfeel is chewy and thick, with a smooth, warm finish. The low carbonation complements the barrel aging, enticing you to keep sipping.
Final Impression: This is another incredible beer from Fremont Brewing. The Barleywine showcases the massive malt profile, with little heat on the end. The aging of this beer significantly deepened the flavors. This English Barleywine is amazing.

22-ounce bottle purchased in 2021 at Orenco Taphouse, I think. Enjoyed in a Fort George Festival of Dark Arts tasting glass.

Look:
Clear reddish-brown with dark persimmon highlights. A vigorous pour raises a thin skin of foam that quickly makes itself scarce. Minimal ring, no skin, no lacing. Looks plenty viscous.

Smell:
The nose is rich with brown sugar, fig preserves, oak, and bourbon.

Taste:
The flavor starts off sweet and fruity, leading with lots of figs and dates and pivoting halfway through to dark, sweet cherries and some raspberries at the end. There's loads of brown sugar too, augmented with hints of caramel, oak, vanilla, bread pudding, and an unexpected speck of cinnamon. Bourbon is easy to spot but not over the top.

Feel:
The full body is lush and velvety. The low carbonation gently percolates on the surface but gets lost in the body. Alcohol heat could be dialed back a notch.

Overall:
On the plus side, I really like the fruity character and the amount of barrel character. On the down side, the sweetness is too much for me and a bit one-dimensional. I wish the caramel were ramped up and the brown sugar proportionally ramped down. I drank about half the bottle tonight, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it holds up tomorrow. (A Macallan stopper sealed the bottle just fine.)

 

 

 

22 ounce bomber with wax seal.
Pours a dark, slightly reddish brown colour with a scant rim of tawny/tan coloured head.
Aroma of vanilla, caramel, toffee, some dark fruit and brown sugar with notes of the bourbon and oak.
Immediately sweet and warming booziness on the palate with toffee, vanilla, dark brown sugar and oak - smooth bourbon.
Silky smooth full and creamy mouthfeel, moderate carbonation with a warming booziness.
Absolutely stellar brew!

Poured from a 22 ounce bottle dated 4-1-21 into a snifter.

Look- Ruby brown, opaque, frothy light brown head, average head retention and lacing.

Smell- Toffee, bourbon, tobacco, oak, cherry, between medium and high strength of scent.

Taste- Toffee, bourbon, cherry, oak, tobacco, very high strength of flavor.

Feel- Full body, slightly below average carbonation, moderately mouth coating, moderately mouth warming, moderately boozy, smooth.

Overall- This beer provided a fantastic and very memorable drinking experience. I rated Brew 7000 fresh from the tap last summer and this one was slightly better. Higher strength nose, body seemed a little fuller and slightly more head retention and lacing.

Poured from 22oz waxed bomber into my Fremont tulip. This is my 5,000th review here on BeerAdvocate, so it’s pretty appropriate. B5k was released in 2021.

Appearance: super rich, dark amber hue, with some haze to the body and a thin layer of tan-ivory foam atop.

Smell: rich and extremely malty — of course! Dates, tobacco, raisins, figs, and booze: absolute classic for the style. Rich and delightful — though, of course, we could go richer!

Taste: there we go. The flavor delivers what was a bit light on the nose — rich, sweet plum, pear, date, raisin, tobacco flavors, with, of course, a massive brown-sugar sweetness. It’s a sipper, for sure, but this is one flavorful beast.

Mouthfeel: rich body with a good carbonation and a silky-smooth, rich, robust creaminess. I don’t want to say “syrupy”, exactly, but that’s getting pretty close. Really, really good.

Overall: well, I was hoping my 5,000th beer would be good, and it certainly is. I am extremely pleased by this beer, and extremely pleased by this site. Cheers!

22oz. Waxed and capped bottle into a Side Project snifter.

Nice thin, oily legs. No head, no lace. Color is a dark mahogany. Nose is molasses, pancake syrup, raisin, brown sugar, and booze. Deep and rich. Beer opens raisin and prunes. Caramel, brown sugar, and molasses in the middle. Touch of barrel and tobacco in the middle. More barrel, anise, and molasses in the aftertaste. Not overly sweet. Great complexity and barrel presence. Body is medium to full with low carbonation. Slick and oily on the palate and goes down boozy with a long, lingering, rich aftertaste.

These just keep getting better and better!

Pitch black oily appear, no head, no lacing, oily film on the glass with each sip. Sweet Bourbon, molasses, fig, raisin. Thick mouthfeel, mild wet carbonation. Luscious.

Dull and turbid dark brown, feigning black, with a thin khaki head dying to an unevenly bubbly collar.

Though starting with intensely distinct brown sugar and maple, it's not too sweet because of a contrasting bourbon char and dark fruit counterpunch.

Side by side with Arabesque b1, I began to also find this to be suddenly woodier, while also exhibiting a lightly boozy lozenge characteristic.

Look - Blackish brown with a nice tahn rimming and lacing
Smell and taste - fantastic malty caramel toffee with a ton of barrel
Feel - medium full body with a light creamy carb
OVerall - just fantastic!!!

Sweet caramel and brown-sugar malty, dark fruity raisins, and a cinnamon vanilla bourbon boozy nose on this one! Taste follows with a well-balanced, sweet toffee malty, brown sugar, and an integrated bourbon finish. A little more bourbon warmth comes out as it warms and opens up. This is drinking fantastic at the moment! This is phenomenal!

A - Dark burgundy colored pour with thick, dense caramel colored creamy lacing.

S - Brown sugar and toasted toffee with light Bourbon.

T - Brown sugar, Bourbon, toasted toffee.

M - Medium body and a silky texture.

O - Pretty darn good and worth checking out.

 

 

Bottle.

Caramel brown color.

Bourbon, brown sugar, caramel, oak, toffee vanilla, plums, raisins, figs. All the great classic bw executed well as alway! Great barrel integration .

 

 

Pours a fizzy semi small head with fair retention, fair lacing, dark cold brown color

Nose some dark malts but no roast, burnt caramel, toffee, hint of candied dark fruits, mild waxy oxidation, little chocolate, baking spices, raisin

Taste is quite sweet, syrupy heavy sugar, molasses, caramel, toffee, condensed caramelized sugar, little dark toasted brown malt, mild bitterness, little vanilla, faint waxy oxidation, mild baking spices and dark fruits, raisin, butterscotch, no barrel, sticky sweet finish

Mouth is fuller bod, a bit rich but not really chewy, syrupy sticky sweet though, lower carb

Overall this was a mess, no barrel at all, really sweet and sticky which was unpleasant, flavors and aromas were also mostly just the sweet sugar characters. I def won't finish this