Brontes
Faction Brewing

Review: 2394
Name: Brontes
Brewery: Faction Brewing
Location: Alameda, CA
Style: Barrel-Aged English Barleywine
ABV: 14.8%
Canned: Unknown
Date: 12 May 2025.
Faction Brewing is a new brewery I am reviewing. I have a few bottles hibernating in the cellar. I would like a good showing today. I am serving the beer at 50 degrees in a tulip glass. The pour created a half-fingered, light tan head with poor retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color is brownish-black with dark rusty brown hues. It is semi-transparent and charting at SRM 32. Overall, it is a poor appearance for a high-ABV barleywine.
Nosing the glass, I smell toffee, coffee, a skosh of char, Maillard, vanilla, roasted malts, whiskey, wood resin, treacle, caramel, earthiness, and malty sweetness.
Sipping the glass, I taste whiskey, vanilla, dried cherries, oak, treacle, char, espresso, toffee, molasses, caramel, leather, dates, earthiness, and malty sweetness.
The mouthfeel is astringent and carbonic, with a hot finish. The body is medium and medium-low in carbonation.
This beer is drowning in barrel aging and whiskey notes. I wanted the English Barleywine to have equal harmony with the whiskey barrel. It seems lopsided. The mouthfeel is rather off-putting at times. My first foray in Faction Brewing was a bumpy start—no date on the bottle and a hot Barleywine.

12.7oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours deep brown in color with a one-finger off-white head that disappears almost immediately, leaving nothing behind

S- as expected, the nose is dominated with barrel; old oak, peppery bourbon & caramel. As it warms, dark fruit notes of booze soaked raisin, figs, dates & black cherry. Undertones of caramel, leather, sherry, chocolate, molasses and brown sugar

T- flavor is dominated by dark fruits up front; figs, prunes, raisins and black cherry. Mid-palate starts to bring out the barrel, adding bold barrel juice, heavy oak, caramel & vanilla. The finish gives more dark fruit notes, along with a sherry-like sweetness. Lingers of bourbon and dark cherry

M- medium body with low carbonation leads to a slightly foamy mouthfeel that turns a bit creamy into a warming finish

Brontes from Faction Brewing. 12.7 fl oz bottle from @2beerdogs in NBW BIF #17. Reviewed 27/06/23 (Review 3130). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 54.1 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 62.7 degrees F.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), slight haze.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, light penetrates at the edges only – gold at the bottom and icterine at the top.
Head: Average (Maximum one cm, aggressive center pour), high density, beige, quickly diminishing to a 0.3 cm crown and no cap.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 4.75 – When the lid is peeled, it gives a nice reptilian hiss, and sweet malt and ambrosial whiskey billow forth – seven years in the barrel certainly didn’t hurt the aroma! No yeast, no hops. No ethanol (14.8 % ABV, according to the label).
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins sweet and caramel-ly. Perhaps a little dark fruit. No yeast, no hops. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. No ethanol flavor but mild gastric warming happens. No trace of tannic acid or vanillin. Ethanol appears on the exhale.
Palate – 4 – Medium; light end of syrupy; soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 (After deducting 0.25 point for an undated personal container) Very good barleywine, sweet and smooth, easily gulped but self-control makes it last longer.

 

Poured at fridge temp into a snifter. Pours black/very dark brown with no head whatsoever. There was a pop when I took the cap off, so there is that. This looks like a big barleywine!

Nose: Wow. I immediately think of an old Thomas Hardy's Ale (like 25 years old!). This has so much flavor! Deep toffee, figs, Oloroso sherry, bourbon, big malty presence, prunes, and a nice kiss of dark chocolate. I am in love.

Taste: Huge rich flavors with the lack of carbonation. This is wonderful and, again, much like a very old English barleywine. Lots of toffee (slightly burnt), dark fruits (fresh figs, plums, raisins), and lots of sherry notes. Old dusty books in an old dusty library. It's boozy, but this nicely compliments the complexity. A nice vanilla note, along with some roasted malts, start to come through as it warms a bit. This is an intense barleywine. I absolutely love it.

Mouthfeel and overall: It's not super thick, much like big English barleywines. It's a perfect mouthfeel for the beer. Overall, one of my personal favorites when it comes to BA barleywines!

Had on tap. Slate brown body with a tan cap. Rich nose of chocolate, barley, refined whiskey, oak, toffee and earth. Taste is absolutely incredible, the barrel character is phenomenal with the nuances of the whiskey and oak, robust barley, earth, leather, and char, waltz with sweet chocolate, toffee, vanillins, and a finishing wave of booze that really works. Feel is massive, warm and boozy, chewy, full and dark in complexion. Usually I find the extended barrel age gimmick to be too much, but this really blew me away. The wife liked it.