Bourbon Barrel-Aged Barley Wine
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

The pour is jet black colored with a small tan head of carbonation. The mouthfeel is thick, sticky, & viscous. & on the taste I'm getting sweet roasted malt, caramel, bourbon barrel oak, vanilla, licorice, & raisin. Moreover, the 14.5% abv drinks more like a 10.5% abv beer. Cheers! A-

 

After having several Kuhnhenn’s now, I am sure that they have a specific old world beverage vibe motif. Maybe it’s their choice of yeast strain or mineral content of water, but practically every beer regardless of style comes up with the same minerality. It’s not that it’s bad, but it becomes distracting / unifying in its insolence. This comes across as neither American nor English barleywine style. It’s musty. Again not bad, but unexpected. This is a beer, perhaps a brewery, that forces you into the 1700s. I’m immediately pulled into a local tavern of hard-scrabble men, enjoying their beers served by the beer wenches. Muskets. Black powder. I’m not exaggerating. I now expect every Kuhnhenn’s to transport me to a more agrarian time of life, where a long day of back-breaking beer ended at the tavern with this in big ceramic mugs. Stone fruit esther’s abound. This is easy to knock back despite a purported 14% ABV. Anyone with more disciplined palettes: am I off base here?

 

 

 

Dark brown pour with virtually no head. The aroma opens with dried fruits, caramel malt, toffee, and molasses, layered with a gentle bourbon warmth. The flavor leans sweet, carried by a silky, smooth mouthfeel. A pleasant warmth builds toward the finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad to finally try this one, it's unique and densely flavored. Tons of molasses and some caramel are most noticeable. Tart cherries, vanilla, leather, and sweet bourbon round things out. What a marvelous beer!

 

2018 vintage.

Before I even take a sip, we're off to a very good start as this beer both looks and smells fantastic. Barleywines don't often jump out at me appearance wise, but I find this beer to be very attractive. More head than I anticipated, and the pour had a beautiful shade of bright reddish brown. Not to be outdone, the aroma takes it up a notch. Loads of rich caramel notes with the bourbon barrel adding a nice dimension.

The quality of this doesn't drop off in the taste department. Rich caramel malts lead the way, but it's the nuance from the bourbon that I'm really enjoying. Jut enough vanilla and wood to make this interesting. Fairly light bodied for the ABV.

Overall, very tasty.

 

2017 vintage. Enjoyed on 05/14/2022

2018 vintage; consumed on 1/11/22

Pours a clear jet-crimson body with sharp, blood-red highlights and topped with a finger and a half of creamy, pale beige foam; sub-par head retention fades to a few spotty, paper-thin islands of cap, a large, frothy collar, and no lacing clinging to the walls of the glass.

Aromas of harsh, ripe whiskey breed burnt sugar, smoked butterscotch and caramel, and a decadent prune/plum compote; shreds of whiskey umami and soy varnish make way for floral oak barrel carrying vanilla icing against potent bourbon lingering as a final impressor.

Taste shows burnt sugar and toffee swirled into fig syrup upfront, with plummy esters lingering through the mid-palate to a bourbon back end, leaving a dusting of cocoa to finish.

Mouthfeel offers a medium body with minimal carbonation and a semi-oily viscosity, maintaining a slickness into the mid-palate; a char is intertwined in a mild, tannic twang with incredible subtlety on the back end of the palate, where a piercing, encompassing warmth peaks into the finish.

Cresting at the potent richness of boozy barrel peaks, ascendant dark fruit jams near umami status against an unrelenting spirit and fresh oak barrel interplay; structure and detail at the highest levels of barleywine.