Bourbon Barrel Peanut Brittle Barleywine Ale
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

The pour is jet black colored with a tan head of frothy foam. The taste is peanuts, plum, butterscotch, brown sugar, black strap molasses, & tobacco char. Moreover, the 14.5% abv drinks more like a 11% abv beer. Cheers! A-

Bourbon Barrel Peanut Brittle Barleywine (2025) from Kuhnhenn Brewing. 12 fl oz bottle, purchased 03/03/26 from Half Time. $ 18.18 (Including tax and shipping)/$ 1.52/fl oz. Stored at 40 degrees F at home. Reviewed 15/03/26, review 3707. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Only date is “2025” on the top of the rear label. Served at 47.6 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 56.8 degrees F. On back label “Serve at 45-55 F”.
Appearance – 3.75.
First pour – Amber Brown (SRM 18), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lit, same but amber at the edge.
Head – None (Aggressive center pour). After the pour is complete, carbonation creates a 0.1 cm bubble ring and a tiny center island.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4 – Strong aroma of peanuts. No bourbon, no barrels, no malt, no hops, no alcohol.
Flavor – 3.75 – Moderate, mildly nutty in a general sense, but not peanuts. Slightly sweet caramel. No malt, no hops, no bourbon, no barrel, no alcohol (14.5 % according to BA – label not marked). No dimethylsulfide. Comfortable gastric warming.
Palate – 3.75 – Medium: Slightly syrupy: Damn little carbonation.
Style: Fits general BA description, but tends (IMHO) toward English Barleywine (Again – no hops).
Final impression and summation: 3.75 Uncredited label art. Very easy drinking but odd! Some of the advertised flavors are detectable – but the bourbon and barrel remain undetectable until the very end. Nearly flat – only the anemic bubble ring indicates any carbonation. To me, this doesn’t taste like peanut brittle – more like a bag of slightly rancid peanuts.

 

Very dark. Almost black with no head. Very nice nutty aroma with some caramel, bourbon & vanilla. Slightly sweet. Flavors: very nutty but not that much like peanut: caramel, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, butter, char from roasted nuts, all sitting on top of a delicious barleywine. Deliciously complex. Feel: flat, virtually no carbonation, thick & smooth. There only a hint of alcohol, how can this be 14.5%? Overall: I love it!

 

 

I was all set for a snarky review but this actually works pretty well. The aroma is extremely nutty with caramel, booze, rum raisin ice cream, and buttered popcorn. I don't think this is diacetyl, just a product of whatever nut flavoring they used. Probably.

The flavors work well together. The caramel/toffee nuttiness are abundant and play nicely with the boozy raisin bourbon barleywine base beer. Kinda has a butter rum raisin ice cream vibe. I don't need another one but I'm enjoying this one.