Old Scallywag - Oak Brandy Barrel Aged
Coronado Brewing Company

Well whadaya know, I found a stash of 2015 brandy-barrel Old Scallywag at the local BevMo. It's 4 years old, perfect for an aged barleywine, although we're not sure how this was treated in the last few years and why is suddenly appeared now. Was it carefully hidden away by Coronado or stuck behind a pallet in the back of Bevmo and just now found, covered in dust and cockroaches? Let's see.

Pours a reddish, slightly translucent barleywine brown. No head to speak of at all, even with a less than careful pour. Look I didn't slosh it but it still is flat as Ralph in the tulip. Aroma is slight, of plum and hops. Not robust.

Taste is a plum raisin wine with a bourbon-forward wood aspect. Yes I said bourbon as the expected sweetness you might think in brandy isn't immediately present. Just the boozy feel, with an oak earthy foreground and a vanilla background. (That's no doubt the oak?). Toffee. Very slight bitter. The sweetest thing about it is a sticky mouthfeel. The carb is, based on the head, indeed quite low but as this is a boozy barleywine it's fine, not worth points here.

As it warms is when the brandy comes forward (similar to say having an actual brandy in your snifter). Cheap Hennesey, and peach pit and raisin. Wood is subtle but never 100% quiet. Worth waiting 5 or 10 minutes for the flavors to peek through. Seems age has mellowed much of its parts, but still a bit of a jangle in this sample. It's a bit thin compared to what others have mentioned here, and seems possible it's on the wrong side of aging.

More malty than the regular Barleywine, and definitely more bitter, with almost no sweet undertones. However, it is not a hoppy bitterness at all.
The mouth feel is full and nice and is perhaps the best thing about this beer. In addition to the malt, there are definite chocolate notes. Unfortunately, I can't say I feel the brandy much.

BOTTLE: 2015 release. 12.7 fl oz format. Brown glass. Printed-on label. Branded white pry-off crown cap.

"Old Scallywag barley wine ale aged in oak brandy barrels." 11.40% ABV.

Served cold into a snifter and allowed to come to temperature over the course of consumption.

HEAD: ~4cm in height. Great complexion. Frothy and gorgeous, with a nice soft consistency. Coating and appealing. ~5 minute retention.

BODY: Deep auburn. Somewhat thin-looking, lack a robust vibrance. No yeast particulate/lees are visible. Yields some brandy-like viscous "legs" when tilted in the glass.

Appears aptly carbonated. Far from unique or special looking, but apt for a barleywine aged in brandy barrels.

AROMA: Fruity, with heavy caramelization. Gooey stonefruit, plum, marsmallow. Deep amber malt sweetness.

I don't detect any rich white oak, but I get hints of brandy when I know to look for them. No booze or off-notes.

TASTE: Caramelization and gooey brandy-soaked fruits intermingle with marshmallow, caramel, and jam, but a boozy warmth is present throughout. Not the most balanced, tending towards the sweeter side of the spectrum in spite of lacking the toffee, English nutty flavours, and brown sugar the best expressions of the style are typically known for.

The brandy isn't vivid. Overall depth of flavour is poor.

TEXTURE: Weak and thin, smooth, wet, medium to full-bodied, heavy, well-carbonated. More of a gooey feel on the palate would be nice.

OVERALL: It's a sipper. Not a great barleywine, and I wish the brandy tones were more pronounced. Decent fare from Coronado, but not a brew I'd buy again or recommend to others.

C (2.85) / AVERAGE

 

 

Picked this one up for 10.99. It was well worth it.
The look is an amber orange color with a white half finger head that
quickly disappears. The smell is sugars, oak, toffee, vanilla, and lots of brandy.
The taste is brandy, sweet sugars, oakiness, sweet fruits, slight malt bitterness, and finishes with brandy.
This is a medium body feel where the sweetness of the toffee and brandy linger on.
Overall, this is a nice barleywine to slowly sip and enjoy.

 

 

 

2015 375ml bottle poured into tulip 1/3/16

A almost clear brownish amber, enough clarity to see bubbles throughout feeding a dense tan finger of foam that leaves a couple partial rings

S lots of hard toffee and brown sugar, vanilla, some brandy barrel booze included, has some dark dried fruit, more sugars, spiced apples, lots going on

T brandy barrel comes out strong, much stronger then the nose, not as much toffee, some nutty notes I can't place, more wood and booze

M has some body but not thick and syrupy like I'd guess after smelling it, has enough bubbles to give it some life but a fair amount of heat going down, just a little stick on the lips with heaps of brandy barrel lingering

O a little boozy but other then that I really like this one, the barrel tastes strong and brandy was a good choice for it

I'm guessing this one was aged for a while in the barrel and could use some bottle time to mellow it out. It's overpriced up here at 17$ so I doubt I'll be stocking up but it was worth a try.

 

 

12.7oz bottle, not retired, apparently, as this is the 2015 release, aged in oak Brandy barrels. Happy New Year, y'all!

This beer pours a hazy, dark orange-brick amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and yet somewhat bubbly beige head, which leaves some random disintegrating cloud form lace around the glass as things slowly subside.

It smells of rather sugary caramel/toffee malt, vanilla-heavy pastry icing, relatively booze-free sweet white wine, a bit of indifferent (hey, there's some French in here, after all) black orchard fruitiness, and a touch of besotted old-school wood. The taste is more saccharine caramel malt, grainy toffee, a touch of mirror-world treacle, some concentrated citrusy white wine fruitiness, one aided by the fig and black plum notes from the nose, and a growing vanilla and yeast-tinged barrel-borne woodiness.

The carbonation is fairly low-key, and almost AWOL at times, what with its benign frothiness, the body a solid medium-heavy weight for the style - all that sugary goodness manifesting as such - and engendering a decently smooth mouthfeel in the process. It finishes still sweet, but retreating a bit, as that generally under the radar Brandy barrel thing displays its minor balancing prowess.

Well, I've had more than my fair share of barleywine, in its various guises over the last little while, therefore I wasn't particularly anticipating this one, mea culpa. At any rate, the barrel effects here are subtle to say the least, and dampening in their obfuscation of the big-ass booze, to say the most. Good stuff, overall, and making me think of some of those leftover holiday confections sitting around everywhere in my house.

 

 

 

 

 

A - A deep dark orange, decent amount of head that dissipated quickly.

S - Sweet dried apricots, plums and vanilla.

T - More medium colored dried fruits with a hint of apple/vanilla sweetness.

M - Very creamy sort of milky mouth-feel to it, very surprising (pleasant) for a barrel aged barley wine.

O - A better than average BBA barley wine, but overpriced compared to much of its competition.