20th Anniversary
North Peak Brewing Company

Popped my last bottle 20220613. Date stamp of 8/25/2017. I find it really refreshing to have an unadulterated barleywine. Most are barrel aged, have done sort of fruit, or spice additive. The bottle claims "American Barley Wine," which tend to be fairly hoppy,but I find it to be a really well balanced barleywine. At almost 5 years old, the hops has mellowed a bit, and the malt sweetness shines through. I like it, a lot. For those who care, if held up to the light, it's fairly red in color with a touch of golden brown.

Dark copper colored with a fingernail of beige around nearly all of the top and covering the majority of the middle. The aroma is of bready malt and marzipan. I’m tasting a wallop of bready malt, marzipan, and a hint of earthy rye. The mouth is sticky, dry, and chewy.

 

22oz bottle. Poured out a clear, burgundy color with a foamy, off-white head. It smelled of roasted malt, toffee and toasted caramel. Big strong malt flavor with toasted caramel and piney bitterness.

Pours a clear copper color. 2/3 inch head of an off-white color. Great retention and great lacing. Smells of citrus hops, sweet malt, alcohol, caramel malt, hint of ester, hint of wood, and a slight piney hops. Fits the style of an American Barleywine. Mouth feel is smooth and clean, with an average carbonation level. There is an elevated hop bitterness. Tastes of citrus hops, sweet malt, alcohol, caramel malt, hint of ester, hint of wood, and a slight piney hops. Overall, good appearance, aroma, and body, though lacking complexity.

A - Pours a deep amber with a thin white creamy head. Tons of soapy lacing.

S - Aroma is grapefruit, caramel and piney hops.

T - The taste is tangerine, grapefruit, caramel, brown sugar and bitter piney hops.

M - Medium body with medium carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel with a sticky finish.

O - This is a solid American Barleywine. Very easy drinking for the style with the flavors nicely balanced.

Tap

Pours very slightly hazy, sudys lacing is white and retains indefinitely.

Smells of maple, biscuit, brown sugar, molasses and oak.

Flavor is of rich maple, oak, brown sugar, biscuit and woody bitter hops.

Medium to full, syrupy body. Light velvety tingly carbonation on the roof of the mouth.

Nice rich barleywine. Not fantastic but certainly very good and worth trying. Wish it had a little more body.

 

Being a big barleywine fan I had to grab this. Very meh... and basic. Didn't taste bad just not very flavorful. Price point was decent at $9.99 for a bomber.

I picked up a bottle of North Peak's 20th Anniversary for $8.99 at The Lager Mill. This one caught me eye because you never see big bottle of North Peaks beer, so I had to see what this one is all about, lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a brown 22oz bottle into a snifter.

A- The label looks ok. it's a little plain looking and the size of the bottle is more eye catching than the label. It poured a nice amber red color that didn't change when held to the light and it had a little over a fingers worth of slightly creamy, slightly fizzy and lightly bubbly very light tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left some rings of patchy lacing behind. This is a good looking Barleywine, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a lower amount of high sweetness with the hops being the first to show up and they impart a fruity, citrus rind, candied citrus, orange, light floral and very light green hops like aroma that go into a good amount of doughy yeast with alcohol just being a little noticeable. Up next comes the malts which impart a caramel. caramel malt, toasted malt. bready, bread crust and sweet malt like aroma with a slight bit of an apple juice like aroma showing up towards the end. This beer has a good aroma, it's got nice balance, it's pretty much what I would expect from an American Barleywine.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma, but it's lighter and not as balanced and it starts off with a slightly lower amount of high sweetness with the hops still being the first to show up and they impart all the same aspects that that they did in the aroma, but they are less fruit and sharper tasting with more green hops showing up. Up next comes a little bit of alcohol that goes into some doughy yeast and it's followed by the malts which impart the same aspects that they did in the aroma, but they are lighter and not as caramel like and as toasted as they were in the aroma. On the finish there's a higher amount of medium bitterness that doesn't linger too long and it has a hoppy and lightly malty aftertaste. This is a pretty nice tasting American Barleywine, but I wish it was just a little more balanced with more of those citrus rind hops from the aroma.

M- Fairly smooth, slightly warming, the alcohol was fairly well hidden, a little creamy, not overly sweet, not too crisp, on the lighter side of being full bodied with a lower amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty nice and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and it's a nice example of the style, it was going the right direction and it turned out nice, but I think it would be better if it was as balanced as it was in the taste as it was in the aroma. This beer had nice drinkability. I could drink a glass or two, but that would be my limit. What I like the most about this beer is the appearance and aroma, to me those are the highlights of this beer. What I like the least about this beer is the balance in the taste, I wish a little more malts came through to balance out the hops. I would buy this beer again when looking for a nice American style Barleywine, but it isn't something I would stock up on and I would recommend if your looking for a solid example of the style. All in all in liked this beer, but I didn't love it and i think with a little more work on the taste and mouthfeel and this could be a very nice beer. It's not a favorite beer from North Peak and it's a solid example of the style. Nice job guys and Happy 20th Anniversary, cheers to 20 more years.

 

 

22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 8/22/2017. Pours slightly hazy deep orange/copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky cream colored head with awesome retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of huge tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, apricot, golden raisin, mango, lemon/orange peel, light pepper, pine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of citrus/pine/earthy hops, fruit yeast, and dark/bready malt notes; with great strength. Taste of huge tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, apricot, golden raisin, mango, lemon/orange peel, light pepper, pine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of tangerine, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, apricot, golden raisin, mango, lemon/orange rind, pepper, pine, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, light nuttiness/roast, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/pine/earthy hops, fruity yeast, and dark/bready malt flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance; no astringent hop flavors or cloying sweetness after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from bitterness. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly slick/resinous/rindy balanced mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden; a mildly increasing warmth, with no booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is a fantastic American barleywine! All around outstanding complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/pine/earthy hops, fruity yeast, and dark/bready malt flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV with the modestly bitter/resinous/drying finish. All around perfectly balanced flavors; with juicy/lightly dank hop character. Never overly aggressive for the style. A highly enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.