Mighty
Tree House Brewing Company

Pours a mostly clear, oxidized-looking deep amber color with churning effervescence, a couple of floaters, a finger-and-a-half of creamy-looking, sandy-colored head. Fantastic retention and thick lacing.

Pine, oxidation, light stone fruit, light orange and light shoe leather in the nose.

Oxidized tasting with sweet orange and sharp piney bitterness. Some nutty chew candy with a vanilla cream center behind. Kiss of alcohol, too.

Full, creamy feel with tight, slow-building carbonation.

Nice back-and-forth between piney bitterness and sweet orange-and-cream in the aftertaste. Less in your face than Bigfoot, coming across more like a Triple IPA. Tastier than expected from a brewery that at times struggles with non-NEIPA styles (sorry fanboys, it’s true). Good bang for the buck, too. Recommended.

 

12 oz. bottle

Pours cloudy hazy light maroon amber red with a dense creamy beige colored foam head. Smells like fruit leather, sweet melon, cherry, red berry, dried fruits, dark fruit, stone fruit, apricot, plum, mild tropical fruit, orange citrus, grapefruit, amber honey, some butterscotch, toasty bready caramel malts, toffee, molasses, hints of vanilla, subtle chocolate, roasty char, pipe tobacco, and earthy floral grassy herbal pine. Taste follows with toasty bready dark caramel malts, toffee, molasses, amber honey, butterscotch, hints of vanilla, subtle chocolate, roasty char, fruit leather, sweet melon, cherry, red berry, dried fruits, dark fruit, stone fruit, apricot, plum, mild tropical fruit, orange citrus, grapefruit, pipe tobacco, and earthy floral grassy herbal pine. Feels medium plus bodied, creamy and slick with smooth moderate carbonation. Overall a really nice hoppy barleywine.

Pours opaque mahogany color with a 2 finger thick creamy tan head that faded slowly and left excellent lacing; except for the color, it looks like a fine DIPA. It smells like caramel, malt, candied sugar, piney hops, dark fruit, buttered wheat bread and fruitcake. It comes off as a sweet aroma, but in a very good way. Taste is full of sweet malt and caramel up front, with butterscotch, candied sugar, piney hops, chalky yeast, dark fruit, toffee, buttered wheat bread, honey, orange peel, fruitcake and floral hops or dry flowers. Well balanced with more sweetness than floral flavors, this hides the ABV well and was a nice slow sipper.

More like a West Coast IPA than a Barleywine

 

 

Picked up a single bottle at Tree House in Sandwich for about five dollars. My three hundred and forty fifth brew from these guys. No bottled on date. Fine beer, not a fan of the style.

This is an excellent, straight forward, and rather approachable American Barleywine. It delivers on all the notes you could want, especially if Bigfoot is the template for a modern ABW, with notes of bark, leather, pine, caramel, toffee, and a bit of orange. Fairly low sweetness; fairly high bitterness.

If ABW isn't your favorite style, then this may not be the beer for you, as it's a pretty faithful expression of the style.

poured from a 12oz bottle into a levante snifter. pours a murky amber with barely a finger of light sandy brown foam. equal parts pine, fruit in the form of esters and fruity hops and honey biscuits. taste follows and it’s about as malty sweet as it is fruity hops. there is some pine in there too. as it warms i also get a little bit of chocolate and toffee but it’s pretty much dominated by hops. there’s nothing offensive about it but it’s essentially like drinking a west coast DIPA. medium-full mouthfeel. pretty interesting beer. very “american” (i.e., hoppy).

 

 

Poured into a 13 oz Teku glass not sure when it was bottle, thinking over 6 months ago. Pours a very attractive cloudy amber red with a 2 plus finger sticky off white head, that leaves thin streaks of lace, with excellent retention. 4.75

Aroma is brown sugar, toffee, caramel, dark fruity esters, and a little warming alcohol. 4.5

Taste follows brown sugar, toffee, caramel, dates, figs, and a little hint of alcohol in the lingering lip smacking finish. 4.5

Mouthfeel is way above average, maybe a tad dry, the perfect amount of life, and at 9.7% a complex and bold beer, that goes down far too easy. 4.5

Overall this is a special Barleywine in my opinion. Very complex and insanely tasty. A must if you are a fan of the style. 4.5

Poured from a bottle into a snifter
Appearance – The beer pours a clear deep golden amber color with a small head of dense white foam. The head fades super quick leaving almost no lace on the sides of the glass. Upon pouring the brew, its thickness can be appreciated, with the liquid gurgling out the bottle. Upon swirling the brew in the snifter thick fingers cling to the sides of the glass, slowly receding to the base and further displaying the thick nature of the brew.
Smell – The aroma is strong of a bready and grainy smell mixed with notes of toffee and caramel. There are some light harvest fruit smells as well as a bit of nut. Other diesel smells and a bit of rum are in there as well.
Taste – The taste begins with a thick and heavy bready and doughy flavor that has some of the sweetness of caramel and toffee that were in the nose. There is also some light hop of a herbal and earthy nature mixed in, with some boozy flavors and a bit of wood. As the taste advances the sweet fades some while the alcohol and malt get stronger. The hops get a bit more intense as well, with the grain and malt increasing at the end and leaving one with a very malty and mildly sweet and hopped taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is heavy and thick with a carbonation level that is quite low. For the style it is very fitting, making for a slow thick sipper.
Overall – A decent and rather big Barleywine. More American style vs English style in nature. Overall worth a try and good for a cool autumn night.

12 Oz bottle into a glass shaped like a coke can. No dating info. Assumed fairly fresh.

Pours a hazy orange brown color with about one finger of light tan head. Meh retention, ok lacing.

Bready aromas. Dark fruit sweetness. Caramel. Piney.

Taste follows. Piney Bitterness with caramel fruity sweetness. Alcohol noticeable.

Sticky, full bodied mouthfeel. Bittersweet aftertaste. Low carbonation.

Very nice take on the style. Reminds me of a more robust aged Bigfoot.