Tree Of Life - Blended (Batch 2)
Tree House Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is sweet overall, raisins and brown sugar are most prominent. I also tasted some port, chocolate, and caramel. I got plenty of barrel character, bourbon and vanilla, despite this being 64% fresh. There is whisper of oak and muted, floral hops at the finish. Full bodied and very satisfying.

This is more of an English barleywine I think. I would love to taste a hop forward barleywine from these guys.

 

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

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

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with some toasted malt, caramel, bourbon, and toffee. Picks up the vanilla, oak, dark fruit, and a touch of chocolate and brown sugar. Finishes with lingering caramel, bourbon, and oak

M: Medium-full bodied with low-moderate carbonation. Slightly sticky

O: A very good blended BBA barleywine that makes for a great sipper. Nicely balanced and nuanced thanks to the blending. Definitely worth checking out

You wouldn't be able to tell that it was a blend and not a fully barrel aged BW. This rivals the top dogs of the style like Sucaba imo. Very good. Depending on your preference, you might want a little more carbonation

 

12oz. capped bottle into a Brooklyn Brewery snifter.

This one pours almost flat with nearly no legs. Nose is sugary. I get aromas of brown sugar, molasses, prunes, sweet soy sauce, bourbon booze, and sweetness. Raisin and a touch of chocolate also. Nice complexity but not rich or deep. Like the body, this one's a bit thin. Beer opens brown sugar, prunes, molasses, and syrup. Some raisin and more brown sugar in the middle with chocolate, more coarse brown sugar, booze, and tobacco at the finish. Sweet aftertaste. Solid. Body is full with nearly no carbonation. Filmy and oily on the palate. Almost viscous and syrupy. Kind of weird that this is chewy and leaves a residue. Messy, lingering finish.

There's something not right about the body with this one. Shockingly not great.

 

Tree of Life Blended (Batch 2) from Tree House Brewing. Received on 9/4/21 from @Rub_This_BBQ in NBW BIF #13. 12 oz bottle stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 26/4/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Served at 55.5 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 59.0 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. When rear-lite, same. Some sediment in bottom of bottle.
Head – Tiny (Maximum 0.5 cm, aggressive center pour), desert sand, medium density, short retention, diminishing to a 0.5 mm crown and some tiny islands of near-microscopic bubbles.
Lacing – None. This appears to be due to the lack of carbonation more than a function of the (secret) ABV.
Aroma – 4 – Molasses, bourbon, generally sweet. No malt, no hops, no yeast. Over time, weakens
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins moderately sweet and never changes. Molasses, caramel, light bourbon, and light oak. No malt per se, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (Secret ABV, NOT marked on container) taste or aroma, however complex alcohols and fruity esters are present. Gastric warming begins virtually instantly and gradually rises to borderline uncomfortable levels. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4 – Full, just short of syrupy, little carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 (After deducting 0.25 point for neither date nor ABV on personal container) Initially very pleasing pour, excellent color and clarity, until the sediment shoots into the glass turning the body muddy. Aroma is quite enticing. Flavor is particularly good with the sweet bourbon being evident although the oakiness is problematic. The only detraction is the aggressive ethanol burn; fortunately, that subsides into a mellow glow. Overall, a quite good barleywine.

Drank from a 12 oz. bottle purchased at Tree House Brewing Company, Charlton, MA
Served in a tulip

The beer poured a syrupy and viscous, dark (yet nearly clear) mahogany color. A fluffy, finger-tall, light khaki crown topped the body and quickly dropped to a thin collar. Minimal spotty lacing trickled along the glass.

The aroma seemed very muted initially. A papery quality was detectable along with some alcohol. As the head receded and the beer opened up, the nose improved dramatically. Boozy dark fruit notes were apparent. Raisins, dates and figs specifically. Nice caramel and toffee presence too. Brown sugar was also noticeable. Some dark chocolate as well. This was reminiscent of a cordial in many ways.

The flavor profile was similar to the nose but not quite as smooth. Rich, malty and robust. Big caramel malt presence. Some chocolate malts were apparent too. Dark fruits again came through strong. Booze soaked raisins, cherries and currants perhaps. There was a chocolate liquor-like quality as well. The boozy notes intensified on the back end and in the finish but never became too excessive.

Solid mouthfeel. Medium bodied for the style. Slick, syrupy and smooth on the palate. The liquid contained a super fine, fairly zippy effervescence that fluffed up nicely on the palate.

Tree of Life is an enjoyable “blended” barleywine that contains a 64 to 43 ratio of fresh to aged beer. Despite this, I picked up absolutely no barrel character. Furthermore, while this is characterized as as American barleywine, it is actually much more English in nature. I am glad I tried this, but I definitely would not go out of my way to procure it again.

 

 

 

Pours clear, dark brown in color with minimal head. Taste is big oak, maple syrup, sugar cane, and caramel. Heavy body, sweet, low carbonation. Sweetness is borderline cloying. Complex but very syrupy. I have had better in the style