A Deal With The Devil - Red Wax
Tired Hands Brewing Company

Foggy dark reddish-brown with a very thin khaki head.

Big stanky barrel meets salted caramel and whiskey galore before a really tasty dark fruit liqueur exhale.

Pours deep, dark brown. Aroma is complex & wonderfully sweet. Nice combination of intense bourbon, dark fruits, toffee & molasses. Taste follows nose in flavors and intensity. Boozy bourbon, molasses, dark fruits (fig & plum), toffee and hints of honey. Medium mouthfeel. Outstanding barleywine.

 

Not sure if it was my imagination or what, but I saw an almost black aspect to the coffee brown pour. A head tried to form and failed.
The taste is, well, very good. Bare Hands has maximized their relationship with Anchorage Brewing. Caramel and Worther's candies, chocolate and raisins, figs, dark fruits that I don't even know the names of but can taste. A touch of leather and a dose of bourbon. just enough edge to keep it from being sweet (I know, after that description how is that possible? Can't say, but they manged to pull it off.)
The feel is viscous. It could define "Viscous". Not even close to syrupy, but it certainly comes to mind. This just nails the barleywine genre.
OA, we don't get Travour, so I am completely dependent on the kindness of friends to send me beer that I could not otherwise have tried. DIM sent me this and it is very well done.
Tempts me to search out the OG at some point.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a super dark brown with basically no head. I'm trying to find the right superlative to explain this nose. It's pretty crazy. Burnt toffee is my first thought, but this has many layers. TONS of bourbon. I'm not super familiar with the taste of Basil Hayden, so can't say that this smells like that. Tons of heat, molasses, plums, figs, vanilla pudding, and definitely a dose of burnt wood.

The taste is equally intense and complex. Holy crap. The finish has to be the longest I've ever experienced with a beer. I'm still getting intense notes (that are evolving) a solid 10 seconds are the first sip is down. Molasses, honey, a bit of black licorice, a flood of bourbon, oak, dark fruit, super sticky toffee. This is definitely boozy, but the sweetness nicely balances it out to avoid any negative heat from the high ABV. Just a lovely sipper!

The mouthfeel is medium bodied, and the aftertaste is sweet toffee and bourbon.

 

I haven't heard much about these Tired Hands collabs with Anchorage and it doesn't seem they're selling very fast. I was too intrigued to pass on this version aged 4 years in a Basil Hayden barrel. I read that the brewer at Anchorage prefers a shorter time in barrels, soaking up booze more so than tannins. This single barrel offering spent more time in oak than Anchorage's triple or quadruple oaked offerings.

This is legit. It has the sticky stillness that the Anchorage version does, including the lovely legs. When I run my tongue over my gums a few minutes after a sip I get a nice burst of barleywine goodness. It's been too long since I've had ADWtD to compare but while there is probably not as much overt bourbon, this still has plenty. The raisin and date notes are incredibly intense and concentrated. Plenty of leather, caramel, and black strap molasses too. I also get dark honey, tobacco, prickly oak, and just a little cocoa powder. This one does some kind of jujitsu style submission hold on the palate, overpowering with unwavering tenacity. Great beer.