Tree Of Life
Tree House Brewing Company

This beaute of a beer was born on 20200413. I cracked her open on 20230302, roughly 2 years and 10 months from inception. To call it an American Style Barleywine seems ingenuine, as it's delectably malty sweet and the hops is merely an afterthought. Overall, one of my absolute favorite Barleywines.

On the initial pour, head seems short lived and light brown.

Nose is sweet, mostly brown sugar and figs, with dark chocolate and stone fruit.

Taste is much like the nose, Stone fruit sweet, caramel and a hint of dark chocolate.

This beer has legs. Not sticky but certainly has a thicker mouthfeel.

Overall, this beer is super well balanced. It's not over the top in any one respect and overall is exactly what an English Barleywine should hope to be, if the English weren't a bunch of wankers who taxed beer by it's % EtOh.

On draft at the brewery, in tulip glass

Opaque dark brown, thin tan colored head.Tons of rich caramel, toffee, vanilla, burnt sugar, a little rum. But not too sweet. Full bodied, smooth feel. Overall, it top notch.

 

 

 

 

2022 can

This tastes like an English barleywine to me, a very good one. I just can't find much, if any, of the traditional American bittering hops they mention. Editing halfway through the can, I do pick up a little bitter pine as it warms. It doesn't jibe well, but it is subtle.

This is sugary sweet overall, lots of toffee and brown sugar dominate. I also get hints of cherry cola (not loving that), raisin, and chocolate. The is thick and sticky while the carbonation is soft. Good overall.

Tree House Brewing Co. "Tree Of Life"
16 fl. oz. can coded "2022" and sampled on 06/07/22
$13.10/2-pk at the brewery on 05/12/22

Notes via stream of consciousness: It's poured a very dark brown body that appears almost black in the full pint. If you hold it to the light you can see that it's a bit hazy, and a deep chestnut brown in color. The head is a finger's width of yellowed tan foam. In the nose I'm finding woodiness but this isn't barrel aged, is it? Not according to the label. It's like Ovaltine with some coconut, caramel, dried dark skinned fruit, and a touch of chocolate. It actually smells a little bit like an oatmeal raisin cookie. On to the taste... it's really rich, and quite sweet. It's quite complex as well so I'm just going to make a list of what I find in no particular order: chocolate covered cherries, toffee, coconut, golden caramel, reddish caramel, brown sugar, earthiness, subtle pine, black raisins, figs, and molasses. It doesn't appear to be that bitter, but of course there's a whole lot of sweet malt there to cover it up, and it does stick in your mouth a bit. Still, somehow, it eventually dries and never becomes cloying. There doesn't even seem to be anything more than just a 'presence' of alcohol. How strong is it? 11.8! That's surprising. In the mouth it's full bodied and creamy smooth. The head didn't hold up that well, even at the get go, but that's to be expected of a strong beer that doesn't have a lot of carbonation to it. On the other hand, there is a lot of sugar in it which makes me question why it didn't even leave an ititial ring of lace. I probably have to clean my glass. In the end I find it quite enjoyable. It's a great sipping beer as you only need a tiny bit to get massive flavor that lasts. As you work through it you find all of the different notes to it, and it remains interesting. I'm pretty sure that I can't follow this with another beer so I'll make myself a cup of coffee instead.
Review #8,046

 

16 oz can poured into a red wine glass. Pours dark brown with lots of fine bubbles (almost nitro-like) and a creamy tan head. No lacing. Aroma and flavor feature toffee, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, dates, dried figs/prunes/raisins, molasses, coffee, cocoa, citrus, and earthy hops. Complex and hides the abv incredibly well. Perhaps just a touch too sweet, but not quite cloying. Mouthfeel is rich, viscous, and incredibly smooth for how big of a beer this is. Overall simply a fantastic American barleywine and I'm honestly not sure how it isn't rated much higher. This is a true sipper and a beer to be contemplatively enjoyed.

 

 

Pours a deep, dark brown. Aroma is wonderful. A complex balancing of caramel & molasses, brown sugar, vanilla with a bit of chocolate. Taste follows the nose and complexity provides an amazing experience. The brown sugar, molasses and vanilla are ever present. Fullbodied & thick.

An amazing barleywine.

 

Good head production, but it's quickly gone, leaving little trace that it ever existed. Body is very dark, with almost more of a stout-like appearance.

Big strong aroma, with notes of caramel, chocolate, toffee, bourbon, soft leather, raisin, prune, molasses, vanilla, and bark.

Super thick and chewy on the palate, along with a very noticeable (but not unpleasant) alcohol heat.

Flavor follows the nose, with tasting notes of chocolate, bourbon, caramel, prune, molasses, vanilla, and pecan. It's moderately sweet, bordering on a strong sweetness.

This is a fairly unique barleywine that drinks almost more like a stout. It's also absolutely delicious.

Black with a garnet hue with three fingers of khaki head. It fizzes down to a finger fairly quickly and then eventually settles into a thick crown. Modest lacing.

Dry, leathery aroma. A little fig, plum, vanilla, cocoa and caramel beneath.

Fig and dry, distant cocoa up front in the taste. Moderate caramel and vanilla behind. A little earthy undertone. Some alcohol heat.

Creamy, chewy feel with medium carbonation.

I like the fruit in this one. Very solid.

 

 

Very sweet, but delicious. More English BW in that regard.

 

 

 

 

Pours out a mahogany brown color with barely a ring of foam appearing.

Nose is a collection of dark fruit, brown sugar, molasses, caramel, bourbon, oak/vanilla, and a hint of chocolate. This is a beautiful smelling barleywine. So expressive and complex.

Taste delivers similar to the nose. Brown sugar or candi sugar, molasses, bourbon, oak and vanilla, and a little nuttiness. Like walnut it seems. There's so much going on here. So much depth. This barleywine is rather sweet though. It's definitely a dessert.

Mouthfeel is fullbodied with mild carbonation. This has considerable density. There's a few instances where I've had a barleywine that was thick. Almost syrupy.

Overall this an amazing barleywine. A touch on the sweet side. I feel like you can pour this in a rocks glass as something similar to a dessert liquor. Complexity and depth rivaling a spirit, this is a brew to be sipped and considered by a group of friends and peers. Great stuff.

 

 

 

Deep reddish brown in color. massive caramel in the aroma, flavor is huge raisin, caramel and chocolate with some vanilla barrel character. Big puffy mouthfeel without barrel booziness. Is this a barleywine? Probably not, but I don't really know what it is other than a gorgeous beer.

A: Pours a deep mahogany color with 2 fingers of head that fades down to a nice cap

S: Toasted malt, caramel, toffee, dark fruit, dark chocolate, molasses, oak, bourbon, and vanilla

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with a mix of toasted malt, caramel, toffee, dark fruit, vanilla, and bourbon. Picks up some lighter dark chocolate and molasses, along with some super light earthy hops. Finishes with light alcohol, dark fruit, and caramel/toffee

M: Medium bodied with low carbonation. Smooth

O: A great barleywine that is definitely on the more complex side. Makes for a nice sipper. Definitely worth checking out

Picked-up a single bottle at the Tree House Brewery in Charlton for about six dollars. My one hundred and twenty first brew from these guys. This has sat in my fridge for a couple of months, as I am not a huge fan of the style, & don't love beers with ABVs that high. This was about as expected, super boozy, but decent flavor.

 

 

2020 brew, chilled 12 oz bottle in snifter, sampled January 2021.
The beer pours a clear coffee color with mahogany highlights but looks black on the table. Ephemeral tan head transitions to a persistent thin rim.
Very fragrant nose bursting with port wine notes of raisin and figs with molasses and malted milk. I spent 5 minutes just nosing this!
The first sip confirms a very robust beer. The malt and stone fruit flavors come through first with figs and raisins from the nose complemented with dates. The mid palate has chocolate and a slight cleansing citrus note melded with a little alcohol heat. The finish is really long, there is a hint of barrel age character along with an unusual hint of capsicum heat.
On a cold, snowy night in MA, this is a delicious, complex sipping beer. It is not too sweet (as too many American barley wines are) with a lot of savoury notes creating a nicely balanced beverage and the booze is well hidden.
An outstanding beer, very much in the English style....which is a complement. One of those beers you wish you had bought more of but at least there is 1 more in the basement to look forward to.

I've had a lot of different barleywines over the years. I love them. This one I had somewhat lower expectations of until I opened a bottle and poured it into a glass. Minimal head, malty notes. One sip and I had to figure out how to get more. Well balanced barleywine. Doesn't hit as hard as 11.8%. One of my new favorite barleywines. If you have some, send it my way.

look: very deep amber, 80% black, head is dense and thin, off-white, very beautiful

smell: grain, brown sugar, milk, booze,

taste: sugar, milk, grain, no complexity

feel: not very balance, too sweet

overall: this is lower than tree house average, a little disappointed

 

Sampling a chilled 12 oz bottle poured into my snifter. The beer was purchased at the brewery about 5 weeks ago.
The beer pours a clear chestnut to mahogany color with some garnet highlights when I hold up the glass to a light source.
A small, dense khaki colored head of about 1 cm foams up in my glass. This fades quickly to a sturdy and clingy edge layer that remains throughout sampling. A few small swirls also spin in the center of my glass, making for some quite nice designs and patterns, sort of 4 quadrants of whirlpools on the surface. Pretty cool!
Aroma is robust with molasses, brown sugar, some fig and raisin notes and hints of a port wine quality, and a little dark bakers chocolate. not really any hop character here, which makes me think more English barleywine or even strong ale, than American barleywine. But I digress.
The first sip is a pretty thick mouthfeel very coating and sticky texture with fine yet tingly carbonation. Makes for quite a sipping beer.
Flavor is very malt forward as well. Lots of dark fruits, figs, raisin, plum mixing with brown sugar and molasses too. I get a little toffee and again not really any hop presence. There is a decent booze bite that comes through here, and although not barrel aged, I get a bit of a bourbon flavor and presence. Blindfolded, I would definitely say this was a barrel aged beer.
I really enjoy this beer a lot, but dont think it is an American barleywine as it is categorized here. Much more English style or strong ale. Either way, its enjoyable on a cold snowy night!