#622 Main St. Barley Wine
The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company

12oz chalice (@ 9.9% ABV) at Beer Revolution's Grizzly Paw tap takeover - 12 brews, in total, which is way more than usual, around here.

This beer appears a very dark, near black brown colour, with a thin cap of wispy and bubbly tan head, which leaves a bit of streaky, blowing smoke lace around the glass as things slowly sink away.

It smells of plump besotted raisins, bready caramel/toffee malt, musty under the basement stairs notes, a muddled black orchard fruitiness, and some earthy, leafy, and gently perfumed floral hop bitters. The taste is musty caramel malt, a hint of chewing tobacco, more indistinct boozed up dark fruit, subtle earthy yeast, and a fading leafy, weedy, and cheap floral hoppiness.

The carbonation is adequate for the task at hand, via its generally muted frothiness, the body a solid medium-heavy weight, and more or less smooth, even the near 20-proof alcohol minding its manners, as such. It finishes trending sweet, from the expected vectors, and barely moderated by the yeast and booze countermeasures.

Not a bad example of the Old World version of the style, but lacking a certain complexity in the end game. It goes down well enough, I suppose, given its sneakily hidden heat, but I'm not getting the happy, from the inside looking out feeling that I normally get from any sort of barleywine.