Barnacles
Reuben's Brews

Can from John's

A beautiful amber with a dense, off-white head with good retention and lacing. The nose is excellent. Rich fruity pineapple esters with gorgeous fruitcake, spiced rum, brown sugar, a genuinely deep melanoidin character. Such rich kettle caramelization. Toffee, caramel, bananas, just gorgeous. The palate is rich and beautiful, caramelized, brown sugar, honey, toffee with an on-point blend of pineapple hops and fruity yeast esters in perfect harmony. The mid-palate has a gorgeous expression of classic English barleywine, with rich caramelization, toffee burnt sugar. Drying,bitter and fruity on the finish. Excellent.

A delightful barleywine! Wonderful flavours of dates, brown sugar , oak , leather and spice. Not even remotely cloying , whilst still being heady. Marvellous stuff!

 

16oz can from Brewers Haven. Copper colored pour, wispy head. Aroma is butterscotch, boozy, sweet. Taste is toffee, butterscotch, malty accompanied by a healthy burn. Deep.

Interesting fruity character, kind of a fruit cocktail melange, including the syrupy sweetness. Contrasts with an astringent bitterness that seems only partly hops. Enjoyable, but I would think of it as more of an American style barleywine.

16 ounce can into a tulip snifter. Canned 5/2/22, had 1/9/22.

Pours a lighter golden brown, a little cloudy, with a two inch foamy head and a good amount of foamy lacing. Aromas of caramel, malt, banana, light vanilla and peaches, light dates and raisins. Has a light herbal aroma. Flavors of butterscotch, caramel, malt, pine- especially on the finish, light dates and vanilla, some raisins. Has a generally fruity flavor and a bit of an herbal taste. Smooth, a little creamy, a really good lighter medium body, well carbonated.

This is really good, wish I bought another. Has a range of distinct aromas and flavors, most notably the caramel and malt. Has a pretty good hop bite for an English Barleywine.

Sampling a 16 oz can of this beer at cellar temp and poured into my snifter. vintage 2022 can and date stamp is 5/02/2022.
the beer pours a bit of a hazy copper color with a beige to eggshell white creamy head of 1 cm . This foam fades to a thin edge layer and one large island in my glass.
Aroma is some toffee and citrus notes mixing with a bit of banana ester, (Belgian yeast?) and hints of light fruit, like a white grape or melon. Not what I expected from a beer labeled English barleywine. Definitely a lot more hop character here.
First sip revels a medium body with a bit of sticky texture and very fine tingly carbonation. The beer definitely coats my palate a bit after each sip.
Flavor is what the nose advertised, but still not what I expected from the beer. I get some toffee and then a good bit of citrus and some rindy hops that dry out on the finish and linger with some astringent bitterness.
The beer isnt boozy and I dont get fusol notes or black pepper or warming on the finish. The lingering hop bite feels very old school west coast IPA, not english barleywine. I enjoy this beer and it isnt flawed, but it also isnt what I expected from a beer labeled on the can as an English barleywine. All that being said, its still a solid beer that I enjoy.

another cool one in this series, collaboration with hair of the dog, rip! this is solid, but i think it was a little unfair to open it next to some long cellared, barrel aged examples of the style from some of the heaviest hitting breweries in the country and beyond, including many from hair of the dog, as part of our barleywine night. this one seems light and sweet and somewhat monotone in comparison to the very best, but that is not a knock against it, really nicely made beer, just young and a bit more straight ahead, also without some of the deeper more sturdy malts, a little big high toned and lighter. the pour is a light caramel color from the pint can, a big dose of this for one person, but a good size for sharing a few ways around the table, short white head slowly fading, visible carbonation in this, and not as viscous as many, nice clarity and low glow to it. english right away in aroma to me, almost smells like an esb, bigger of course, but in that bready medium crystal and maris otter sort of malt range, definitely baked and lightly toasted, doesnt smell half as sweet as it tastes, although toffee, butterscotch, and rum notes are all here, softly floral hops adds some nuance, and there is a light yeast note here too, also bready, appropriate. the flavor is very sweet, caramelized even without some of the long boiled concentrated sugar you find in many of these, a little less intense, less low end. toffee and honey predominate, and this drinks incredibly sugary on the tongue and teeth, candied red apple, cream soda, creme brulee, and baked biscuit notes, a hint of vanilla, late hops come up as it warms, long but not real complex drink, decently well hidden alcohol though and the little pop of carbonation is nice. i should revisit this soon on its own, not in a heavy barleywine lineup, the other hair of the dog stuff especially put a bit of a damper on this as being sort of simplistic, but either way its sweeter than i can personally drink very much of. that said, its a neat beer in a series that has been mighty impressive overall. furthermore, this might be agreeable to those turned off by, or intimidated by, more robust examples of the style...

Burnt orange body, full foaming tan head. Smell is led by big oxidation, barley, stone fruit, with earthy yeast, and mild sweet malt supporting. Taste is much the same: oxidation, sweet mall, stone fruit combine upfront before dry, but strong barley, toast, and earth combine. The yeast with the fruitiness almost has a cotton candy tone for a second there. Dry, almost fluffy certainly soft feeling, but has considerable booze warmth and barley sharpness

Blind review:

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a dark orange with an inch of head. The nose immediately screams barleywine to me, although perhaps a bit more fruity. Definitely getting some caramel. Plums, raisins, a minty note, apples, peaches, oranges, and some grass.

The taste is fantastic. Big notes of caramel and piny hops. American barleywine is my guess. A great balance of flavors. Tons of fruit as well - plums are dominant, with side notes of raisins, apricot, and orange. The hoppy notes become a bit more dominant with each sip. Pine needles, leather, grass, and a woody spice.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied. The alcohol is definitely significant - gives a nice boozy burn on the way down. 12% ABV is my guess. I do not think this is barrel-aged, but if it is I'm guessing rye barrel. Great beer! Thanks, Kestrel! I'll open the envelope after I post this.

 

16 oz. can. Amber body. Big off white head. Smells of bananas, toffee, pears, and pine hops. Tastes of pine hops, bananas, sweet toffee. It's hard to get past the banana esters. They are domineering. Heavy, warming and boozy, but not too sweet. I like the hop profile as it balances the sweetness, but the banana flavor is out of control.

Barnacles is an excellent barleywine, although I would quibble with calling it an English Barleywine. It seems much hoppier, with a significant bitter finish, than the usual English Barleywines. It reminds me some of Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot.

Whatever the style label you apply, it's quite good. It pours a beautiful amber, with a big fluffy head. The smell and taste are caramel, fruity, and hoppy. It's only slightly sweet (very slightly).

Terrific stuff. I hope Reuben's moves it into it's regular rotation. This is too good to be a one-off.

 

 

 

Appearance: Pours a hazy burnt orange with a one finger ecru head; good persistence and a splattering of lace

Smell: Caramel, candied stone fruit, citrus pith and spice cake aromatics

Taste: Caramel and spice cake flavors with candied stone fruit building; citrus pith and pine flavors emerge through the middle along with an underlying very bitter element; the sweet tones from the front end close out the finish

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with low to moderate carbonation

Overall: The hopping of this Barleywine reminds me a lot of Doggie Claws and provides a sentimental remembrance of Hair of the Dog brews; really am enjoying this one

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Pours a medium pumpkin orange with a fine, one finger off-white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, apricot, apple, banana (!?) and toffee; very estery and interesting. Flavor follows, with caramel malt, light stone fruit, particularly apricot, hints of citrus and banana and a slight bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. An interesting take on the barleywine style. Oddly, this is the second one I've had recently that has a solid caramel malt body, but the fruit notes are lighter and lean to light stone fruit and citrus, like the rarely brewed American style; this one even has a hint of bitterness, although the classic American style used to be IPA grade bittering. Then this one has some banana notes and suggestions of Belgian fruit notes. I sounds like it's too muddled, but this tastes great. Not a traditional English barleywine, but trying a direction I will follow. A pleasant surprise. Great collaboration and another fine offering from Reuben's.