Well Bred
Copper Kettle Brewing Company

Well BredWell Bred
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From:
Copper Kettle Brewing Company
 
Colorado, United States
Style:
English Barleywine
Ranked #124
ABV:
10.2%
Score:
91
Ranked #6,366
Avg:
4.12 | pDev: 9.95%
Reviews:
16
Ratings:
71
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 23, 2022
Added:
Dec 15, 2013
Wants:
  14
Gots:
  18
English Barleywine aged in Bourbon Barrels. Aged in bourbon barrels from Breckenridge Distillery. Part of their Barrel-Aged Series.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by liamt07:
Photo of liamt07
Rated by liamt07 from Canada (ON)

3.59/5  rDev -12.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Dec 23, 2014
More User Ratings:
Photo of CBlack85
Reviewed by CBlack85 from South Carolina

3.69/5  rDev -10.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Poured from a 20 oz can into a New Belgium Globe Glass

The beer pours a muddy copper color with a fair amount of suspended particles, an aggressive pour yield a smallish dense tan head, that slowly recedes leaving behind a thin cap and virtually no lacing.

The aroma is sweet bready malts, caramel, vanilla, dark fruit, and bourbon barrel. Not bad, but a little subdued and seems to be lacking something.

The flavor is similar to the aroma; caramel, mild dark fruit (fig, plum/prune), brown sugar, vanilla, and a strong punch of bourbon barrel. A little sweet, with an underlying, almost artificial flavor.

On the light side of medium bodied, and on the verge of being under carbonated. The beer is slick on the tongue, and there is a mild creaminess that counteracts the light body.

Overall this is a decent beer but lacks some of the magic that makes a good barleywine. Oftentimes the bourbon barrel character will cover up for a lackluster base beer, but in this case it just wasn’t quite enough to push this one over the edge.
Nov 23, 2022
Photo of Roguer
Reviewed by Roguer from Connecticut

3.82/5  rDev -7.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Surprisingly clear body, a coppery dark gold, very clear. Looks more like an old ale or a wheat wine. Decent head production; relatively poor retention.

The nose is quite strong and a touch medicinal. Strong bourbon notes, vanilla, sweetened caramel, apple, brown sugar, banana bread, white dough, pear. It's just a bit too artificial to really hit the right notes with me, not entirely unlike a banana ice cream pop - by no means unpleasant, but just somehow off.

Very tasty on the palate, but similar to the aroma and appearance: a touch lighter in the malt base flavor, but also very, very sweet, thick, and sticky. Artificial banana flavor (which could be partly from the bourbon), caramel, apple, pear, white bread, bourbon, pecan. A bit of bite up front; actually a very balanced and full-bodied mouthfeel, with just a bit of fizz and a growing alcohol heat.

This is tasty, but somewhere the interplay between yeast, bourbon influence, and the malt mixture just doesn't quite land perfectly. The artificiality of the nose isn't completely translated to the palate, thankfully, but it does make it harder to really appreciate the flavor on its own. I think that flavor is right on the border of outstanding, the more I sip, somewhere between 3.75 and 4.25. It does remind me a touch more of a very sweet old ale than an English barleywine, but admittedly those are fairly adjacent malty styles.
Feb 19, 2021
Photo of golf4collet
Reviewed by golf4collet from West Virginia

3.9/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 2 | overall: 4
Got this from Beer Drop but the can wasn't sealed well when filled, so it had a very small leak around the rim and had lost all of it's carbonation. The taste is pretty good but I'd really like to try this carbonated and not completely flat. I'm not sure if the leak affected the taste or not since I don't have another can to compare to. If Beer Drop sends a replacement, I'll update this.
Dec 09, 2020
Photo of Beer_Economicus
Reviewed by Beer_Economicus from Ohio

3.69/5  rDev -10.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Copper Kettle Brewing Company - Well Bread (Bourbon BA English Style Barleywine) - 2019

I was given this beer by a good, close friend of mine. He was out in CO with his family, and asked again what beer I liked. I told him. He told me he'd pick up a few beers. Sure enough, within the next couple weeks I got beer mail. Inside were 5 or 6 beers, and to my surprise, this was one of them. How the hell did he actually find a BA BW? I don't know, but I was pretty excited. If memory serves, I received this in....September (of last year)?

Appearance: Poured a light red/orange, very opaque in the same way that a carbonated cola is poured brown-clear out of a machine as the carbonation is mixed with water and the powder. Thin looking (wuh-oh). Score: 3.75

First impressions: Low if any carbonation (which is fine for BWs). As the liquid settled, the color so too settled, resting on an opaque mix of red and browns, with some orange notes mixed in. Not as dark (and not cloudy) like you might find with other BWs, such as BCBBW (2016, 2017).

Smell: Not much. Basically nothing from feet away, all the way up to and when my nose is in the snifter. I get a faint alcohol aroma when my nose is completely inside the snifter. The more I focus, I seem to get a pretty strong orange scent. Not orange zest - that would be too vibrant. Almost the somewhat dull but distinctive orange flavor associated with the orange gummies (covered in chocolate) you see at the holidays. Finally, a hint of cola. This took me awhile to nail down - but once identified, it's definitely cola. It's sort of that effervescent cola smell associated with carbonation. Score: 3.9

Taste: Surprisingly not bitter, which is unusual for a BW for me. Even if they are sticky sweet, I normally get a type of bitterness associated with the leather and tobacco flavors, which although normally present in a BW, is lacking here almost completely. Maybe a faded p[assing presence. There is a sweetness to the taste that is best described as a bleached white sugar simple syrup (not to be confused with a simple syrup made from turbinado sugar). Definitely similar orange flavor as was noted on the nose - perhaps a bit of earhty dark berries as well on the back end. Only the faintest hints of cola came through on the palate. Score: 3.65

Mouthfeel: Nothing special, but the viscosity is mostly right. Perhaps a little thin. No carbonation, which is certainly appropriate for this style. Score: 4.0

Overall: This has very little going for it. It just doens't have much flavor. If it is going for least offensive, it wins. if this was from a brand new opened brewery, I might say, "Man, they could really ahve promise.' Absent of knowing that, all Ia m left with is wanting. Wanting for more traditional English BW flavors, wanting for more sweetness, but without the taste of sugar, and wanting for flavor in general. There is also no barrel presence (ok, very minor on the palate, but not on the nose), which is hugely disappointing.. Score: 3.5

Review Score: 3.72
Aug 17, 2020
 
Rated: 4.56 by Benjamin_Stewart from Kentucky

Mar 28, 2020
 
Rated: 4.09 by ppavlick from New Jersey

Feb 08, 2020
 
Rated: 4.18 by TheEpeeist from Maryland

May 25, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by teamwiggum from Wisconsin

Mar 23, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by paulish from New York

Feb 01, 2019
 
Rated: 4.02 by mattreitz49 from Florida

Jan 26, 2019
 
Rated: 4.04 by CraftFan5 from New Jersey

Dec 27, 2018
Photo of LiquidAmber
Reviewed by LiquidAmber from Washington

4.05/5  rDev -1.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a hazy, medium orange brown with a thin film that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, dark and light dried fruit, bourbon and toffee with a hint of oaky vanilla. Flavor is caramel malt, brown sugar, mild fresh and dried plum, bourbon and vanilla. Medium bodied with light creaminess and good carbonation despite the quiet pour. A fairly traditional English barleywine profile of caramel and dark fruit, a little on the mild side for the malt body. However it is more than sufficient to support the good bourbon barrel flavors. Finish is more robust than the initial taste. A pleasant and well balanced barleywine with a slightly lighter dark fruit component than traditional. The big 19 oz. can is an awkward size for a big beer like this; it is a little too big for a single sitting of a robust barleywine, but can't be capped like a bottle. I'm a big fan of smaller formats for big beers and I hope they consider a 12-16 oz. can for this.
Dec 04, 2018
Photo of Greywulfken
Reviewed by Greywulfken from New York

4.25/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Medium-orange-amber color, hazy, with just a slim finger of tan head from a center pour into an over-sized snifter... Fairly mild characteristics overall, featuring some woody vanilla bourbon elements o'er fruitiness suggestive of muted apple and fig... Body is reasonably full and softly smooth... Neither particularly bitter nor overly sweet... A very nice, mellow bourbon barrel barleywine...
Nov 23, 2018
Photo of Beaver13
Reviewed by Beaver13 from Colorado

2.03/5  rDev -50.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2
22 oz bottle, dated 2017. Pours slightly hazy ruby amber with a small fizzy off white head that quickly goes to a thin collar that leaves little lacing.

The aroma is sweet perfumy vanilla cola malts with some fruit and sharp alcohol.

The flavor is sweet sugary dark fruits with a big acidic roasted boozy finish that's a bit medicinal. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thin and watery.

Overall, bit of a muddled mess.
Apr 07, 2018
 
Rated: 4 by Spaceman_Jer from Colorado

Nov 16, 2017
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

3.54/5  rDev -14.1%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 3
[Reviewed from notes taken in 2015.]

Bourbon barrel aged English strong ale/barleywine. 10.70% ABV (2015 version).

$6 USD per 8oz pour @ Copper Kettle. Served on-draught into a tulip.

HEAD: None. No lacing. Just a white ring of vestigial foam.

BODY: Nutty caramel-brown colour. Translucent. Good vibrance. No yeast/lees/sediment is visible within.

Appears well-carbonated. Not a unique or special appearance for the style, but apt for a beer billed as a strong ale.

AROMA: Toasty white oak, vanilla, marshmallow, soft caramalt, English brown malts. The bourbon barrel character is impeccable. This is a heavenly aroma with some of the best bourbon aromatics I've come across in months. Mouthwatering.

Moderate aromatic intensity.

TASTE: Bourbon is the star of the show here, but it isn't quite as amazing as the aroma suggested. Soft marshmallow, toasted white oak with some subtle charred oak characteristics, English brown malts, barrel sugars, vanilla/barrel vanillin. The bourbon just melts seamlessly into the base.

Incredibly well-balanced, with a perfect integration of barrel into base...the only issue being - where exactly *is* the base? There's little on the table aside from a moderate presence of English malts and caramalt.

The marshmallow is fantastic.

TEXTURE: Smooth, wet, soft as can be, silky, velvety, and aptly full-bodied, with ideal thickness. Boasts a great overall presence on the palate. Carbonation is perfect. This is a terrific mouthfeel for the style.

OVERALL: The bourbon kicks ass, but the base beer is a blank slate at best. The texture's perfect and the barrel aging ideal, but as a whole it could be improved. Still, it's an incredible English strong ale with barleywine influence and is absolutely worth trying. Highly recommended terrific work from one of Colorado's most astounding newcomer breweries.

Low B (3.54) / GOOD
May 24, 2017
 
Rated: 4.09 by Sparty55 from Michigan

Aug 03, 2016
 
Rated: 4.29 by shareallthebeer from Colorado

Apr 04, 2016
 
Rated: 4.56 by pingchoi from Texas

Mar 26, 2016
Well Bred from Copper Kettle Brewing Company
Beer rating: 91 out of 100 with 71 ratings