Arcane Rituals
Bottle Logic Brewing

4.51/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
by Harrison8 from Missouri

Pours a very dark brown with no head formation after a modest pour straight into the glass. Some oily legs form on the glass after a light swirl. Aroma is dark fruits, fig, toffee, and brown sugar with a hearty throughout. Caramel, toasty, and light bready malts shape the rest of the beer aroma profile. Sweet cognac and light bourbon heat pair up with barrel character for a subtle twist of heat within an otherwise sugar nose. Flavor profile is cognac booze right up front, paired together with dark fruits and figs. After the opening act, bourbon, brown sugar, almond, and grassy, herbal hops take over, forming a slightly sticky, firmly sweet flavor profile. Barrel character is minor, instead allowing individual liquors to shine and simmer in the spotlight. Wonderful dynamics and shape from start to finish. Mouth feel is a boiled-over-medium texture with a near still effervescence that carries a consistent minor fluffiness throughout. Just a little bit plush, but mostly flat. Thickness is medium-thick. Overall, really incredible use of various liquor influences to enhance and build on a dark fruit, fig, and toffee forward ale. Despite only being 11.37% ABV for this batch's bottling, it's a powerhouse of flavor.

Served in a 15.5oz Spiegelau tulip from a 500mL bottle. 2021 release. "Batch 002". ABV: 11.37%.

May 05, 2022

4.68/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by DIM from Pennsylvania

2021 vintage, 11.37 ABV

Just what I hoped it'd be. The barrels are prominent, I get some bourbon and plenty of brandy/cognac, can't quite tease these two apart but I taste plenty of boozy fruit. They also bring hints of vanilla and leather. An incredibly decadent base beer shines through as well. Quite sweet, with notes of toffee, brown sugar, cherry, figs, and so much more. I love the lingering boozy exhale. The body is full and sticky with light carbonation. Lives up to the hype.

Apr 14, 2022

4.5/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by Sandis from Minnesota

12/28/2021: Poured from a 500ml bottle into a stemless wine glass. Thanks to Josh for the share. I sampled this right after VSOJ so that is a tough follow but this beer is excellent in mouthfeel and flavor.

Jan 11, 2022

4.72/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by FBarber from Illinois

Pours a dark ruby tinged brown color. Opaque and shiny. Thin, velvety tan head forms on the beer before dissipating. The only residual head is a thin ring of foam along the outside of the top of the beer. Aroma is incredibly rich and pungent for a barleywine. There are notes of rich bread, fruit cake, dark fruit and overly ripe cherries, toffee, burnt brown sugar, vanilla, along with strong barrel notes that carry notes of each - cognac, brandy, and bourbon.

Taste follows the nose with notes of boozy fruit cake, dark cherries, oak, light tannic notes, toffee, brown sugar, with light notes of vanilla and cocoa with a slight cherry tartness on the back end. Lots of barrel character comes through with clear notes of brandy, bourbon, and cognac showing up in the profile. Its sweet - not too sweet, but definitely on the sweeter side of barleywines. The profile overall is decadent, rich and flavorful. Feel is medium bodied, smooth and viscous. Carbonation is sprightly but nicely balanced. Trending dry on the finish.

Overall this is an amazing barleywine - I know I have used the word decadent multiple times in the review, but it really is the best way to describe this beer.

Dec 12, 2021

5/5  rDev +9.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
by badmotorgrunge from Illinois

This may be the best ba barleywine I ever had! Nice work as usual Bottle Logic!!!!

May 22, 2021

4.5/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by IKR from California

Appearance: Very dark brown color with a medium sized beige head that slowly faded but stuck around nicely. A good looking Barleywine.

Smell: Bourbon & fruity brandy aromas jump out the glass. I also pickup moderate brown sugar aromas. The nose is inviting.

Taste: Toffee/brown sugar, Bourbon notes, and Brandy notes all make their presence felt in the flavor profile. The beer starts off fairly sweet and though it dries up a bit in the finish, it still has a fair bit of sweetness. Maybe because I know what was used but I swear I can pick up peach notes from the Peach brandy barrels it was aged in. Mild alcohol presence for the listed 11.37% ABV.

Mouth-feel: on the full side of medium-bodied with a moderate level of carbonation. Full mouthfeel for a BW.

Overall: A very good Barleywine for my tastes. Somewhat on the sweet side but it has a nice, complex, and tasty flavor profile.

May 02, 2021

4.7/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
by EtienneR from Netherlands

Boozy motherfoo. Really complex, super boozy, balanced. Fruity, caramel, toffee, coffee, nice mouthfeel and warming. Luckily i have another one to try

Apr 05, 2021

4.37/5  rDev -4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
by Benish from Wisconsin

Poured deep dark brown color with a beige head. Heavy aromas of dark candied fruits followed by hints of cocoa. As it warms up, dark raisins take over with subtle bourbon at the nose. The taste is endless dark fruits that only empowers as it warms up. Plus notes of cocoa, cherries, and both bourbon and brandy. I was quite surprised how well I could impart the unique flavors of different spirits in this beer. It’s very rich, silky, and smooth in the mouth with no alcohol burn. Overall, this was a treat. Very decadent, rich, smooth, with extreme drinkability.

Feb 07, 2021

4.85/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by Beersnake1 from California

Poured from fridge temp. Very little head, and a nice dark brown color. Nose is insane. Screaming toffee, brandy, fudge, raisins, and classic malty notes from an English barleywine. The taste - good god this is good. Brandy, bourbon, chocolate, maple, vanilla, toffee, figs, and a bit of nuttiness. Mouthfeel is super viscous. Overall, a mouth-watering barleywine that has amazing flavors that linger for ages. I need more of this!

May 07, 2020

4.82/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
by gcamparone from Rhode Island

Poured from a 22oz bomber into a bottle logic Mason glass. Thank you Daniel for this beer.

Pours a dark brown but translucent body with ruby tones and a small brown head.

On the nose is decadent sweet brown bread, molasses, milk chocolate, French vanilla, bourbon, dark fruits, caramel, peanut brittle.

On the tongue this is unreal - sweet, bourbon soaked pecan pie, caramel rocky road brownies drizzled with French vanilla cognac, espresso beans, roasty dark molasses and dark fruits, finishing syrupy and rich, dark maple syrup, decadent table of desserts all melded into one. Thick, rich body, definitely a sipper that opens up at room temperature.

This beer was packed with flavor. Incredibly complex and rich, yet easy to drink and sip inviting. My favorite beer of 2020 so far.

Feb 04, 2020

4.92/5  rDev +8.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
by Sabtos from Ohio

Dark mahogany brown, nearing black but not quite, with a moderate, uniformly dense khaki foam head settling to a short but persistently thick collar. The creamy head resurfaces after a small swirl, in b1 and also upon revisiting in b2.

A bourbon syrup character gives an impression of thickness without any sort of absurd viscosity whatsoever, while an excellent barrel char delivers ribbons of Tootsie Roll, caramel and vanilla marshmallow all accented by black pepper. And the nose is just so chock full of vanilla nougat. It's just super deep and rich, yet mature and infinitely complex.

The moderate body is slick and smooth, broken up by a crackly carbonation that is pulling out chocolate and toffee drizzled graham in addition to dark fruit notes that come across like a wonderfully woody Madeira. But again, I must stress, this isn't an overly thick or decadent sugar bomb. Having recently had Maple BA Mecha Planetoid, the contrast is perfectly illustrative. Arcane Rituals is so much more complex, drinkable, mature and refined. It's just astounding, without anything having been added, how well the pastry notes get pulled out of the oak and malt interplay.

Is this the best beer Bottle Logic has made? Quite possibly. And it's also one of my favorite barleywines in general, full stop.

---

Maybe not, because in early June 2021, it's time for me to enjoy a b2 bottle, and I couldn't be more excited!

I actually detect a hint of sweet peach right up front, more than I ever noticed in the several bottles of b1 I had, which I obviously already thought was a goat. This adds a uniquely bright accent at the tip of the tongue that I didn't quite experience before, but the swallow is just as deeply complex as before, developing for days on multiple exhales. The oak and malt interplay spans a wide array of decadence and maturity that just absolutely blows my mind. I can't help but up my already stellar 4.79 score.

Jan 21, 2020