Barrel-Aged Lion's Share – Brouwer's Cafe 19th Anniversary
Reuben's Brews

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. Pours a very dark, reddish mahogany brown with little light transmission in the glass and a quarter finger light khaki head that dissipates to a thin cap, with light lacing. Aroma of dry caramel malt, woody oak, dates and figs; faint hops. Flavor is dry caramel malt, dates, raisins, toffee and oak wood and oaky vanilla. Light, lingering hop bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. This has been cellared for a year, and when I read the bottle description, I realized I should have drunk it sooner as it a hopped barleywine. Although I classified it as an American barleywine because of the hops, the profile leans closer to an English one, with deep caramel malt and dark fruit. It also has some faint lighter fruit notes so it straddles the categories; the hop bitterness is definitely more American. I'm relieved to find that the herbal hop flavors are very faint, so there are not stale hop character and the bitterness is barely perceptible at this point, but the finish leaves a very nice, lingering light bitterness, once again with little hop flavor character. It really worked nicely. Reuben's is a fine barleywine brewer and this one is excellent and a little different. A worthy Anniversary brew for the sadly departed Brouwer's Café.