Kourage
New Holland Brewing Company

12 ounce bottle into signature pint glass, bottled on 5/15/2017. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep reddish/copper/light brown color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky cream colored head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, nuts, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toffee, dark fruit, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. A bit too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with good strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, nuts, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toffee, dark fruit, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal, floral, grassy, peppery hop; and roasted bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, nuts, toasted biscuit, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toffee, dark fruit, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; with a great hop/roast bitter/sweet balance; and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, and lightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6%. Overall this is a delicious American brown ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Not overly roasty. Nicely rich and well rounded malt complexity; nice earthy hop balance, and mild fruity yeast presence. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example. Glad I was able to try it from the anniversary pack.

Nothing too impressive. Slight caramel malted brown beer but nothing too special

 

 

Dark brown, barely any light, with a thin head leaving little lace. Flavors start out with bitter roast malts and develop into coffee. Hops add just the right amount of bitterness. Nutty and biscuity dry malt notes come in in the aftertaste. Moderate body and relativley easy to drink.

Not an Enlgish Barleywine anymore according to the bartender. More of a double brown ale.

What a find. I'm told by Tikki that this hasn't been brewed in over a year, and I just found a 6'er of it sitting around collecting dust at this little party store. Having never heard of it, I was psyched to try it out. Pours out semi-hazy, though it's bottle-conditioned and there is a thick layer of yeast in the bottle, requiring a firm pour to achieve a modest creamy light-tan head with poor retention and sparse lacing, leaving a thin layer of sticky clumps. Aroma is distinctly that of a barleywine...Alcohol, prunes, raisins, big amber malts, and a hint of that New Holland huskiness. Mouthfeel is very full, thick and soft, coating the tongue with a medium-dense body. Taste begins with some well-balanced hops, which then quickly succumbs to the prunes and raisins, taking on a port-like character...a large amount of amber malts throughout the middle followed by a balanced bitterness which is perfectly melded into the finish. The aftertaste has a late huskiness with some chalk and a clean finish. Cleanly fermented. The alcohol is mildly warming.

I would guess that this is closer to 8% than the 6% stated here. It's not as intensely hoppy as traditional barleywine, and not as mild as a brown ale...perhaps a double brown ale? At any rate, the 1 year sure didn't hurt this baby, and I'm gonna stick the other bottle downstairs to cellar.

Very dark for an "american brown ale", as the brewery calls it. Has a licorice taste/smell that I love, although it might not be correct to the style guidelines. I think that this is now a "seasonal" at the brewery, only made once a year. Full mouthfeel, coating all parts of the mouth. Very drinkable as well, but I wouldn't want more than 2-3 if I have to drive.