Barleywine Aged In Cedar Ridge Whiskey Barrels
Madhouse Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

750 ml capped bottle poured into a snifter.
9.5% ABV

Thanks to BottleCaps80 for this awesome bottle in an in-person trade!

A - Tawny amber in color, Madhouse Barleywine has a mahogany hue with a thick ivory head that disappears quickly due to the alcohol. Dots of soapy lace struggle to cling to the glass but leave their mark in the end.

S - Rich complexity runs through this beer, illuminating Heath bar toffee and butterscotch candies with sticky, semi-melted caramel cube dribbling onto thick-sliced toasted bread. Whiskey is prominent but wonderfully complimentary with a deep, lung-warming alcohol note coming from fresh oak barrels.

T - Madhouse Barleywine is a malt-house, loaded with complex sweetness that mirrors the aroma closely but also incorporates soft notes of stone fruit as well as sticky raisins and tender fig newtons before finishing with a thinning alcohol taste that pulls out of the whiskey and young oak barrels.

M - Malt heft shows itself nicely as it attempts to peek through the thinning, warming alcohol presence of the whiskey barrels with little avail. Finishing smoothly, this beer is warming from the mouth to the stomach with it's clean whiskey presence.

O - Madhouse's Barleywine aged in Cedar Ridge whiskey barrels is, without a doubt, whiskey-forward but, coming someone who hasn't quite developed a taste for straight whiskey, it's done very well. Alcohol permeates the beer with a thinning, solvent-like presence but never becomes a nuisance, instead, compliments the complex malty base of the beer, delicately holding the two in balance for a fine finish that would go wonderfully with a light cigar.