March To The Sea
Coastal Empire Beer Co.

Got this in trade a year and a half ago. Been in a wine cooler ever since.

Pours a hazy, leathery red with a nice white head. Completely okay for a beer that's so strong, but not exactly pretty.

Smells great. Barrel-aged barley wines should, in my humble opinion, be aged for a least a year after purchase. The aroma is of gigantic American hops that have been smoothed out with age, along with vanilla and mild oak and then some dense, fruity malt. Smells like a near-perfect combination between a large English barley wine and a large American barley wine.

Tastes stupendous. Not perfect, but nearly so. Smooth hops up front, vanilla and fruit in the middle, red wine, mildly sweet malt, and just a wee bit of alcohol burn in the finish. Much less sweet than lesser versions of the style, but still not so much of a hop bomb that you can't taste the barley (which is a knock against a barley wine, imho).

 

The whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts here. Delicious barleywine with much less sweetness than is usual. Goes down incredibly smooth. Highly drinkable.

 

 

 

 

pours a very cloudy burnt orange color. thin creme colored foam, with light lacing. alcohol is not overwhelming. Aroma of caramel, toffee and honey. there is a hint of spice there too but I can't put my finger on what it is.