Brew 8000
Fremont Brewing Company

The pour is darker than most of the barleywines I’ve had, with a briefly lived beige head that left little lacing. For the time in barrels and the ABV, I almost expected a still beer.
The taste is probably the closest to my ideal barleywine that I’ve had. The toffee, the dates, the figs, the bready malts, the caramel - it just goes on and on.
The feel is on the lighter side of viscous, this is a beer that begs to be savored over an evening.
OA, very glad to have been able to enjoy this work of brewing art.

 

Review: 2547
Name: Brew 8000
Brewery: Fremont Brewing
Location: Seattle, WA
Style: Barrel-Aged English Barleywine
ABV: 13.4%
Canned: 2024
Date: 31 January 2026
The last beer in the vertical is 8000; I am looking for it. 9000. 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 32—no visible head after a quick dissipation. 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, 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 beer does not smell as malty-sweet as 6000, but not nearly as dry as 7000.
The barrel flavors are bourbon, oak, and char—next sip: dark fruits, chocolate, date, figs, light-roasted coffee, molasses, and caramel. After a few nips, I notice vanilla, raisins, toffee, dark-roasted malts, bread, and earthiness.
The mouthfeel is chewy and thick, with a smooth, warm finish. The low carbonation complements the barrel aging, seducing you to keep consuming.
Final Impression: The 8000 is better than the 7000, but not as good as the 6000. The alcohol is noticeable in this, like 7000. Overall, delicious English Barleywine.

 

Poured at fridge temp from a bottle. Pours a nice dark brown with minimal head. The nose is bourbon, vanilla, toffee candy, raisins, dates, figs, pudding, and brown sugar.

The taste follows the nose. Bourbon, brown sugar, maple, toffee, brown sugar, figs, raisins, big malts, vanilla pudding, and a touch of Crème brûlée.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied and the aftertaste is toffee pudding, vanilla, and bourbon. Excellent barleywine overall.

 

 

22oz bottle into a tulip. Pours a murky brownish mahogany with a silky khaki head.

Aroma is fruity and complex with dried, bourbon-soaked dates and figs, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, and vanilla. Classic English barleywine qualities.

Taste is equally complex with many of the same characteristics.

What gets me most here is the mouthfeel. It’s smooth and slick with a nice boozy warming finish. There’s nothing harsh about this 13% beer and it goes down super easy.

Overall another home run in the Brew X000 lineup, one of my favorite series of Fremont beers. Stellar stuff.

 

10 ounce draft pour into a tulip glass from a taproom.

Look- Deep ruby brown, opaque, medium brown frothy head, below average lacing, slightly below average head retention.

Smell- Raisin, toffee, oak, fig, bourbon, tobacco, between medium and high strength of scent.

Taste- Raisin, fig, toffee, bourbon, highly boozy, moderately sweet, very high strength of flavor.

Feel- Full body, average carbonation, highly mouth warming, highly mouth coating, moderately sweet, sticky, syrup like.

Overall- Wonderful depth of flavor and aromatics, both with a high intensity. Plentiful bourbon and dried fruit character. Full bodied with high mouth warming and coating properties. This encapsulates everything a Barleywine should be providing a highly enjoyable and memorable drinking experience.

 

Opaque slate brown, mushroom colored head, about a pinky finger high. Smell has the barrel right away with distinct soaked oak, molasses oozes out with barley, brown sugar and raisin. Taste has booze and barrel front and center, barley, anise, dry earth, tobacco, whisper of orange zest and raisin. Feel actually has some barley snarl with deep and woody barrel with plenty of bourbon booze too, thinner and medium weight, smooth

Much gratitude to muchloveforhops3 for this bottle!

A - Dark brown / black pour with dense caramel lacing and looks pretty decadent.

S - Brown sugar, toasted toffee and caramel, oak, Bourbon, and alcohol spice.

T - Brown sugar, light molasses, oak, a small amount of dark fruit, Bourbon, toasted toffee, and spicy alcohol.

M - Thick and silky on the texture with warming in the back of the throat.

O - Holy wow, this is highly recommended!!!

On tap in Meridian. Murky-looking dark brown pour, no head. Caramel, toffee, and butterscotch toasted sugars lead off, blending with the booze and bourbon-y vanilla to combine into that quintessential malty-sweet English barleywine aroma. The taste really follows that well, with sweetness and a nice lightly earthy peppery character and cocoa-y, somewhat nutty dry bitterness that could be some of the barrel oak coming through. That cuts the sweetness down slightly, which I like, but this thing is chock full of vanilla, coconut, caramel, molasses and marshmallow. 10oz is a perfect amount, I wasn’t tired of it by the end as the warmth took over.

 

bottle into glass
Very little tan head, which is lightly tinted. Murky dark brown color. Spiced, oak barrel, sweetly caramelize, dark roasted malt, with a little tang, makes up the aroma. Slightly sweet, spiced caramel and whisky barrel, for the taste.

Sweet burnt brown sugar malty, dark fruity red plums and dates, a touch of honey/molasses, and a balanced bourbon barrel nose on this one! Taste follows the nose exactly with a sweet, medium-bodied, bourbon barrel swallow. This one is pretty well-balanced and not too sweet nor too boozy. This is very, very good!

 

 

This one pours a dark golden brown color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like caramelized brown sugar, dark fruit, vanilla, chocolate, and bourbon.

Having this side by side with B6K, the lessened barrel character is more noticeable than it would be on its own. There’s maple, and an almost cinnamon toast like breadiness to it, with chocolate, cherry skin, brown sugar, toffee, and oak.

This is medium bodied, smooth, and sweet, but not overly so.

This is somewhere in the middle for quality of this ongoing series, but it’s still quite, quite tasty.