14th Anniversary Golden Barleywine
Fremont Brewing Company

 

I’m a bigger fan of English BA Barleywines, but I’ll never turn down anything special that Fremont does. Darker than expected for something called “golden”, as it’s almost brown, with auburn hues. Minimal head and carbonation, but thick sticky legs. Strong scents of honey, molasses, brown sugar, and barrel. Same flavors on the tongue, and you can throw vanilla and dark fruit tastes in there as well. Medium bodied, mouth watering finish, boozy. Pairs well with a cigar. Very good, better than the previous anniversary. Maybe it’s the Brew 7000 presence.

22oz bottle into a tulip. Pours a clear honey/amber with a thin khaki head that leaves behind a wispy film.

Aroma is bready and fruity—vanilla, oak, bourbon, light brown sugar.

Taste leads off with strong butterscotch, along with the aforementioned vanilla, candi/brown sugar, and booze. Caramel, toffee, and toasted coconut. Sweet but with a nice bitter counterbalance.

Mouthfeel is medium-heavy, smooth and velvety. Nice boozy heat going down but never harsh, syrupy, or overpowering. Lingering sticky finish.

Overall I’m quite pleased with this one. Perhaps most reminiscent of §ucaba.

 

22oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours a deep amber color with a one-finger foamy off-white head that reduces to a ring around the glass

S- plenty of barrel on the nose with rich oaky peanuty bourbon that adds caramel, toffee & vanilla. The base beer gives notes of tobacco, as well as a earthy perfume note that I can't quite identify

T- sweet malty caramel and toffee up front, followed by bold barrel notes that gives old oak, peppery bourbon, vanilla & a hint of coconut. Mid-palate gives more sweet caramel & toffee. The finish presents more oaky barrel that sticks around on an oaky linger

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that turns slightly viscous into a warming finish

O- love the caramel notes with bold barrel, only downside was that it was fairly dimensional

Appearance: Pours a murky dark brown sugar color with an ecru film that fades to a ringlet with a swirl; legggy with a few spots clinging

Smell: Caramel and Bourbon aromatics dominate with hints of vanilla and golden raisin

Taste: The Bourbon barrel dominates from the outset with the caramel, golden raisin and vanilla flavors peeking through; increasingly boozy through the middle and into the finish

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with low carbonation

Overall: A bit one dimensional, with very strong Bourbon flavors; I have high expectations for Fremont and this one didn't live up to them

On-tap in Moscow, served in a snifter...body is not clear, brownish, maybe a flash of gold...very minimal khaki head. Boozy nose opens with flashes of dark fruits, slightly peppery in its warmth...the palate opens up notes of rich raisins, minor notes of caramel and maybe a flash of coconut. Malty and boozy throughout, a bit one-note for a Fremont brew, these are normally not one-dimensional when they are offered as their limited yearly offerings. Tasty, just a bit warm and undynamic.

Maybe my expectations are too high!

 

Up front I get really appealing notes of raisin, butterscotch candies, honey, toffee, and burned brown sugar. It's almost reminiscent of a potent Belgian golden ale in some ways minus the esters. The finish doesn't quite live up unfortunately. It isn't bad by any means, but the barrel notes are a little too hot and the grassy bitterness comes on a bit too strong.

This is good but doesn't quite measure up to other barleywines from Fremont. The Brew k series is where it's at.

 

 

Lighter butterscotch brown murky body, off-white thick collar. Smells of barley and oak immediately before lush but lighter tones of caramel, earth, bourbon, pine and golden raisin. Taste has somewhat smooth caramel malts with complex wood, barley, dry earth and mild orange zest and pine. Feel is light and dry, warm and has plenty of barrel character and barley, decent hops

Light reddish-brown hue. Decent head production and OK retention. Body is mostly clear but has a touch of indistinct haze.

Very strong bourbon-forward aroma, along with notes of honey, hay, toffee, caramel, prune, vanilla.

Smooth and absolutely delicious on the palate. Notes of honey, caramel, bourbon, corn, wheat, toffee. Slightly hot, but not unpleasantly so; in fact, it seems to gently remind you that, yes, this is a BIG beer!

Pours caramel red with a faint head on draught in tulip glass. Beautiful lacing and sweet caramel malty boozy notes and bourbon barrel barley wine punch at 14.9% ABV.

Pours light golden brown with minimal off-white head. The nose is caramel, milk chocolate, cherry, and bourbon. Hints of orange peel, wood, and leather. The taste is similar. Cherry, bourbon, caramel, and subtle orange/peach. Fairly boozy with an abrupt finish. Low sweetness for the style (or at least not as luxurious/decadent as many). Medium mouthfeel. Pretty good but meh relative to Fremont's best.

On tap at Hollingshead in Orange, CA.

It’s golden, for sure. But are we talking Golden Showers or Golden Slumbers? Well, it’s nowhere near Slumbers. And as far as showers go, think of the one back at your hotel after hiking in whatever National Park is your fav. Yeah, that’ll do.

Don’t forget to bring a mini bottle of Doctor Bronners soap on all road trips, my minions. It’s a game changer over shitty hotel bar soap.

14th Anniversary Barrel-Aged Golden Barleywine Limited 2023 Release. Mystery Beer #1 from @muchloveforhops3 in BSBIF #1. Waxed and capped bomber. Reviewed 02/12/23 (Review 3184). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 56.1 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 62.2 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), hazy.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, ruby amber and cloudy. At the final temperature, I checked the rear-lighting, and found it to be ruby and clear, so the previous haziness was probably chill haze.
Head: Average (Maximum 1.5 cm, aggressive center pour), beige, high density, somewhat fizzy, quickly dropping to a 0.1 to 0.15 cm crown and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – Poor, but considering the ABV, it’s surprising there is any.
Aroma – 4.25 – Sweet, caramelly, and a bit fruity. Maybe a hint of bourbon, or at least whiskey. No hops, no yeast, no alcohol (14.9 % ABV as stated on the bottle).
Flavor – 4 – Begins slightly sweet and caramel but not sticky. No yeast, no hops. Unable to taste any vanilla, tannic acid, char, or any other bourbon barrel flavors. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Moderate gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Full; creamy; soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Pretty distinctly a barleywine, slightly sweet and well-hidden ethanol. The barrel aging doesn’t show up well in this young bottle – too bad I don’t have a few to lay back.

 

Pours a dark amber, slightly brownish color. Aroma is a nice sweetness of caramel, dark fruitiness and bourbon. Taste follows nose sweetness with the caramel, dark fruit, bourbon with the addition of brown sugar. Full mouthfeel. Wonderful barleywine.