Mighty Oak
Tree House Brewing Company

Strong and dark fruit flavours. Faded hop finish. Understood, should have done a real American barleywine fresher.Dark brown, malty fruity aroma. Pretty good still.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Brown in color with a lot of brighter red-orange hues. Clarity is good. Lots of particulate in suspension is probably some protein clumping and a sign of age. Cream-colored head rises to two and a half fingers in height before shrinking to a half inch cap where it held fast. Thin and lace-like rings of lacing.

S: Buttery caramel and toffee, scones, softy grainy and toasty. Brash west coast hopping, but with the edges smoothed over. Spicy herbal whiffs, sugared ruby red grapefruit, pine sol, touch of lemon pith. Sugar maple sort of scent, but distinct soft oaky vanillins, too.

T: Up front are layered malty flavors of dark caramel, treacle, darkly toasted scones, candy apple shell. Bit of berry jam. Spicy and herbal hop flavors kick up on the mid palate and hold attention. Pine and bark, candied grapefruit, and orange marmalade unfurl. Bitterness clamps down a decent amount. Paper bag oxidation. Brush of alcohol. Oaky, but in a more subtle and soft way with the vanillin profile almost feeling floral. More biscuits and jam on the finish.

M: Full bodied. Chewy and deeply creamy. Wonderful soft and airy texture keeps it feeling light and lithe despite its size. Carbonation is ample but soft and gentle. Some alcohol warmth, but nothing remotely hot. Gripping hop astringency.

O: I like the thinking here, but I'm not sure it met my expectation in the end, if I'm being honest. It's dead-on for an American Barleywine, albeit not going for the bold and brash approach that something like Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot leans into wholeheartedly. Instead it got some conditioning in oak to try to soften it out deliberately. I do love the body that the conditioning creates, but I'm also getting some distracting signs of age like the papery oxidation and heavy sediment in suspension. I'm not sure how old the liquid is or how long it has been kicking around since bottling, but it comes across like a great beer that I let sit too long in the cellar and missed its peak.

Poured from a 12oz bottle with no date into a stemmed glass (purchased August 2024 IIRC)
Look: About what you'd expect from an American barleywine, and in a good way. The beer pours an inviting amber, with a light tan head that goes from one inch to a half inch to gone within ten minutes of pouring, leaving lacing up and down the glass over the course of drinking.
Smell: Initial aroma is largely hoppy, with strong notes of pine and sweet dried fruit. Warming gives way to some notes of dank citrus, but only just.
Taste: Walking the fine line between syrupy caramel and piney hops, it does both well, backed by the lightest touch of complimentary ethanol. Surprisingly, the stand-out feature, oak, goes undiscovered by my palate, although my father (who tried a sip) said it was the most dominant flavor. YMMV!
Feel: In the mouth, this beer is tastefully sticky and full; I couldn't help but think of a diluted tree sap. It's not quite syrupy, but isn't afraid to make itself known.
Overall: If you could bottle the Pacific Northwest, this is what it would taste like. I enjoyed every sip!

 

 

This one pours a deep amber color, with a small white head, and lots of lacing.

This smells like biscuit, orange peel, grapefruit, vanilla, and oak.

Hoppy barleywine is never going to be my favorite take on the style, but the oak softening really helps propel this forward for me. The light touch of oak and warming spice helps tamp down some of the more aggressive bitterness from the hopping, presenting as more floral than piney. There’s lots of citrus, mainly creamy grapefruit. I’d want a bit more like toffee or brown sugar, but the caramel and breadiness is pleasant enough.

This is medium bodied, creamy but bitter on the finish, with not a ton of booziness.

If I’m going to have a hoppier barleywine, this is how I would want it to taste.

Clear amber with a thin, but creamy-looking light tan head. Really nice retention for the style, which contributes to some decent lacing.

Citrus, vanilla, butterscotch, leather and deciduous Eastern forest in the nose.

Super woody tasting throughout with vanilla cutting through up front and strong citrus notes on the backend — more grapefruit rind than just orange or lemon, contributing to a bitter aftertaste. Reminds me a bit of the Oak Jai Alai or a bourbon barrel aged IPA.

Slick, medium-bodied feel with strong, tight carbonation that’s on the soft side of fizzy.

This delivers as advertised by being very wood-forward. A very enjoyable sipper that showcases what wood can do for a light-colored beer.

I poured this at fridge temp, but waited 10 minutes before smelling it. Pours a dark brown/reddish color with minimal head. The nose is fantastic. I was expecting bitterness, but rich toffee immediately makes a presence. A deeper breath in reveals some fresh grapefruit, bread, oak, and a nice earthiness.

The taste is exceptional. A perfect marriage between caramel and citrus. Not fighting, just holding hands. Neither dominates. It's fresh and crisp. Also getting flavors of green grapes, granny smith apples, slight leather, honey, and biscuits. Just lovely.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a refreshing citrus aftertaste. Not citrus peel, but a nice juicy and sweet grapefruit with mild bitterness.

Beautiful barleywine, perfectly clear and a dark reddish-brown color. Good head production from a strong pour, producing more than a finger of light cream colored foam. Retention and lacing are decent.

Very strong classic ABW notes on the nose, only amplified by the oak while providing more character. Leather, bark, oak, vanilla, tannins, prune, toffee, red grape.

Shockingly soft and approachable on the palate - to the extent that I think it might actually disappoint some ABW fans. The tasting notes are all there, however, along with an almost fruity, almost sour note from the oak, like squeezed oak juice added to the brew. Raisin, leather, bark, oak, vanilla, red grape, brown sugar, rose hips.

Drinks appropriately big, despite clocking in at a more traditional sub-10% ABV. Feels like a very big beer.

I'm not a massive ABW fan, but this beer is fantastic. Super drinkable, yet delivers on everything you could want from the style.

Picked-up a single bottle at Tree House in Sandwich for about five dollars. My three hundred and thirty second brew reviewed from these guys. Not my favorite style, but solid. No bottled on date that I could decipher.

poured from a 12oz bottle into a TG assassin teku. pours a murky amber with roughly two fingers of sand colored foam. better head retention and lacing than the non-oak mighty. lots of pine and biscuity malt on the nose. taste is much more well rounded than the regular version. there’s more toffee and caramel and even some light chocolate and vanilla. i don’t really get oak or bourbon (not really even sure if this is used bourbon oak barrels or neutral oak barrels or what) but the oak-aging has definitely smoothed out some of the rough edges from the regular mighty - namely the aggressive hoppiness. full mouthfeel. still very much an american barleywine but at least it drinks like a barleywine as opposed to a high abv west coast ipa. i’m digging this one.

 

Poured from a bottle into a snifter
Appearance – 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. Notes of diesel fuel and a bit of rum mix with some woody and oaky smells, creating a rich and big warming smell.
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. There is a rather strong woody taste mixed with notes of nut. 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, moderately woody, 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 – Like Mighty, this one is just decent for a Barleywine. The barrel aging does make it a bit more balanced and drinkable. Nothing super special but worth a try none the less.

 

 

I am a fan of regular Mighty, curious to see what oak adds. Very nice, the gentle woody spice really adds something to the bitter citrus, caramel, and tart cherry. Glad to try but I prefer the original.

 

 

Purchased as a single bottle from Treehouse’s Sandwich location.

L- Beautiful mahogany. Delicate head.

S- Deep “boozy “ malty aroma.

T- Almost a sherry flavor. Tannic oak
finish.

F- Smooth, fine carbonation. Tannic finish.

O- Treehouse really did this one great!