Gilded Grove - Bourbon Barrel
Tree House Brewing Company

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz bottle poured into a snifter. Picked up at the brewery a ways back (2 years ??) and has been in my cellar since.
The beer pours a clear copper color and rests with a bit of ruby hue in my glass. A dense creamy eggshell white head of 0.5 cm foams up and fades to a thin edging soon after I complete my pour. Not really any lattice when I swirls the glass or take a sip.
Aroma is toffee and brown sugar with a good dose of sweet bourbon. NOt really any hop character and the booze is well hidden also, with no fusol notes etc.
The first sip of this beer reveals a medium body with slightly sticky texture that leaves some coating on my lips and my palate after each sip.
Flavor is similar to the nose with caramel, toffee, and brown sugar mixing with a bit of slightly tangy dark fruit. Im getting raisins here. Bourbon comes through and then the finish is dry and has a peppery bite along with some warming booze on the swallow. Never any hint of hop character on this beer.
A sort of sweet barleywine that features some bourbon and is a very solid sipper. Glad I picked up this bottle.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter. No bottled-on date observed.

A: Red-orange color with good clarity. A half finger of bubbly cream-colored head

S: Big waft of "barrel juice" up front. Fresh bourbon straight from the barrel with that sort of wash-y cornbread aroma. Toasted coconut shavings and marshmallow, warm vanilla, and toasty oak. Malty scents of light runny caramel, toasted grain, toffee, and candy apple shell. Booze-soaked golden raisins. Treacle. Pinch of brown cocoa powder.

T: In taste, the malt base hits the palate first. Chewy caramel, treacle, brown sugar, nutty toffee, and brown cocoa powder. Brush of alcohol and white grape skin esters. That fresh barrel juice flavor hits soon after, though, and never relents. Sweet but mild corn brady bourbon. Oak and vanilla. Coconut shavings and toasty marshmallow. Long finish is all bourbon wash and vanilla with a bit of creme brulee thrown in.

M: Rich and chewy in body with a heft and thickness in the mouth. Plenty of dextrin brings a syrupy texture. Some soft wood tannin.

O: It's not the most complex barrel-aged beer in the world, and the barrel does dominate. That said, I don't think that's really a bad thing here. Beers like this are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. While it may be very simple and straightforward, the base beer meshes so damn well with the barrel profile, and the barrel profile is so mild and delectably flavor-forward that it can carry the experience. It reminds me of what Alltech does with their Bourbon Barrel Ale, and it reminds me of being in Kentucky and sticking my face in a freshly emptied bourbon barrel with some liquid still sloshing around in the bottom. It's a life experience I do recommend, if you ever get the chance.

 

Pours a copper amber clear tones of bubbles rising up to a brief tan head that doesn't even stay as a ring.

Aroma is is nice malty caramel, soft vanilla, bready notes, brown sugars, banana bread hints, soaked bourbon barrel notes underneath.

Taste not as robust as the nose, caramel, bready, some brown sugar and fruit hints. Almost tastes thin not a big complex BW. Some vanilla, barrel notes, and alcohol bite.

Mouthfeel is wierd it feels light, a 13% BW. Carbonation is medium even with all the bubbles rising so that's not the issue.

Overall I'm confused smells like sweet yummy thick complex BW. Taste like that but someone cut it with some water.

 

I wasn't thrilled when I saw 'blonde barleywine' but the pour is a heavy amber and from there the ride is stellar, delivering boozy, bready, sticky goodness and a long finish.

 

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a fairly transparent orange/reddish with zero head. The nose is fantastic. Vanilla, bourbon, and caramel are front and center. Banana bread and some stone fruit come through. Very smooth and nice.

The taste is fantastic. Burnt toffee, biscuits, plums, apricot, herbal tea, vanilla, and some bourbon. Really lovely and insanely smooth. The alcohol is not detectable. Really glad I got to try this and wish I had another bottle.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the aftertaste is mild fruity sweetness.

Look - caramel clear with slight rimming nice lacing
Smell and taste - lot of malts and barrel. Definetly get the bourbon and its fairly sweet. Nice breadiness, pretty complex
Feel - medium full body light carb
Overall - not bad

Other than it took me 10 minutes to get the top off it is a wonderful barleywine. I can’t imagine a beer from what I lovingly call THE TREE, that I would rate one of their beers lass that world class. This is no exception except for the wax stuff that made the wait to open it all the better. AND I am drinking it from a Trillium glass. Will wonders never cease. Luckily for me I was at The Tree when I could get this. Yay me!

 

Brewers notes : Brewed for the first time in the spring of 2022, our Blonde Barleywine was nestled in the quietest corner of our barrel warehouse and put into a deep slumber for an indeterminate amount of time. Walking amongst these towering stacks of barrels, surrounded by the intoxicating aromas of earthy oak, char, and spice, the space that housed these precious wooden vessels of golden elixir was thus deemed the Gilded Grove. We now present to you several distinct expressions of this wonderful treat. Gilded Grove Bourbon Barrel brings us many familiar notes of soft vanilla, oak, and inviting heat, but with added notes of warm-baked banana bread, sweet caramel, and brown sugar.

Chilled 12 oz gold wax dipped and capped bottle purchased at Tree House Brewing Company, Sandwich, MA
Served in a tulip

Translucent russet colored liquid, fizzy taupe foam cap quickly fades
Aroma is sweet bourbon, brown sugar, caramel,sherry,
Taste is bourbon, brown sugar, caramel. Bourbon soaked raisins, vanilla, toffee, sherry, banana bread,
Fizzy mouthfeel , boozy,
Good beer

 

Drank from a 12 oz. gold wax dipped bottle purchased at Tree House Brewing Company, Sandwich, MA
Served in a tulip

Pretty typical appearance for a blonde barleywine. The body was a crystal clear, reddish-tinged caramel hue. Even with a fairly aggressive pour, only a few larger sized bubbles rose above the liquid. There was zero lacing, and the liquid looked very much like a spirit in the glass.

The aroma was amazingly rich and complex. Big caramel malt presence. There was an intensely sweet, raisin-y, oxidized note that was more reminiscent of Sherry or Madeira than bourbon barrels (which is what this beer was aged in). Boozy but not excessively so. Brown sugar appeared as the beer warmed.

The flavor profile was similar to the nose and nearly as impressive. Loads of caramel and toffee on the front end. An oxidized, Sherry-like note kicked in next. Sweet and raisin-y. More fruit character in the center. Ripe plum perhaps. Big boozy notes appeared on the back end and crescendoed in the finish.

Nice medium-full bodied mouthfeel. Slightly syrupy and viscous. The liquid contained a fine, subtle effervescence that worked nicely for this somewhat lighter take on the style.

Gilded Grove - Bourbon Barrel is a fantastic example of a blonde barleywine (i.e. light in both appearance and body but intense in flavor and aroma). If I could create a take on the style that would be most ideal during the warmer weather months, this would be it.

 

 

Well damn this is great! And just a bit atypical... Plenty of sticky caramel, leather, brown sugar, and oaky booze. There is a wonderful, and very different, spiced fruit note here as well. It's a lightly sweet spice combination of cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, and more baked into apples, pears, and a little banana. Another stellar barleywine from TH, thanks @VodkaPong87 for the opportunity.

 

 

12oz bottle received from @Roguer in the Barleywine/Stout BIF 2023; probably the most beautiful wax job I've ever seen on a bottle
poured into a Baerlic Belgian-style tulip

P deep caramel w/ no head- just a touch of active carb; fairly still, but enticing nonetheless
N big notes of sweet toffee, wood, and bourbon
T toffee and cocoa, oak, vanilla, with freshly baked ban bread in fin as well; hint of spice in there too, light-med heat; really nice, unique profile; some dry barrel in the aftertaste; more oak presence as it warms
Mf med-bodied w/ soft-med carb; velvety smooth- pairs with the profile nicely
O one well-executed and unique barrel-aged barleywine; definitely recommendable; excited to try the other two variants he graciously sent my way!

review date: 01.09.24
bottle date: not captured