Sunday (2021)
Cycle Brewing

 

Pours dark amber-brown with a thin mocha cap that quickly settles into a messy, long-lasting crown.

Raisin, plum, cocoa, leather and gasoline fumes in the nose. There are flashes of toffee or caramel, but it’s fairly dry smelling in comparison to other contemporary examples of the style.

The taste has a much more prominent toffee, caramel and vanilla sweetness than the in the aroma. The sweetness is compounded by an almost jammy plum fruitiness and some juicy raisin. It’s cut only by some faint burnt cocoa and the very strong alcohol.

Very sticky, chewy feel with light, tight carbonation.

The fruitiness in this seems almost quad-like at times. Delicious overall.

Appearance - This was a dark barleywine with little head or lacing following the pour.

Smell - The nose was like bourbon barrel aged caramel. It was sweet, but maintained the integrity of the base beer.

Taste - The initial taste included caramel, maraschino cherries, cocoa, and sweet barley. The 30 month barrel aging made for a mellow caramel bourbon undercurrent. Is there such a think as a dessert barleywine? It was neither hot or cloying.

Mouthfeel - This barleywine drank like a thick stout.

Overall - One of the best barleywines I have ever had.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a dark brown - almost black. Thin layer of head. Nose is full of toffee, bourbon, sherry, red grapes, raspberries, vanilla, bread, chocolate. The taste is Armagnac, bourbon, figs, grapes, toffee, cherries, sweet candy, maple, and a hint of tobacco. Leans a bit sweet, but not cloying.

The mouthfeel is crazy on this. Thick and creamy - something I would expect from a stout. This is truly amazing. Such a great barleywine.

 

This one pours a a very dark brown color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like toffee, malted milk chocolate, oak, caramel, bourbon, and raisins.

This is a very stout-like barleywine - it almost feels like a blend of stouts and barleywine, with a creamy bold milk chocolate, loads of toffee, salted caramel, oak, vanilla, and a slight bit of dried dark fruit.

This is very creamy and rich, with no real booziness at all.

Cycle doesn't often brew barleywine, but when they do, it's tasty stuff.

Pours a very dark brown with a half finger of fizzy khaki foam. Aroma is figs, raisins, toffee, and barrel. Toffee is soft, supple, and sweet. The whole aroma is like a melting old school candy, giving off big sweetness, but without unbalance. Barrel remains a nuanced feature, allowing the rest of the barleywine to sing, before adding a little swell of balanced heat and bite. Flavor profile is fig, raisins, molasses, and heavy toffee and caramel. It oozes sweetness, but is countered well by tough and hearty toasty malts. Barrel shows up in presence, but not in heat, establishing a few extra sublevels to this structure. Dark fruits, plum, and raisins are multiplied as the beer warms. It begins to ooze sweetness, but the barrel character remains proportional, checking the balance as the sweetness rises. It's never hot, not remotely so, and yet it manages to show off plenty of barrel. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a smooth, boiled texture and low effervescence. It develops into a creamy texture with a pillowy effervescent backbone as the beer warms. It's not often a beer mellows so kindly as it warms. Overall, it carries quite a bit of heft, with the barrels adding some heat around the edges, but the balance lands in the 'simmer' zone. Balanced with a hearty complexity. It seems to accelerate into excellence as the beer warms, developing nuance upon nuance, all the while, retaining balance.

Served in a 15.5oz Spiegelau tulip from a 22oz bottle.

 

Bottle at share. What a great way to start the week! Near black, slick pour, ring of beige head. Aroma is sweet leathery malts, tobacco and a good dollop of booziness. Taste brings out some savory notes, along with some molasses and vanilla. Smooth and strong.

 

Another Cycle bomber, this one to welcome me back from a few nights of backpacking in the wild. Good to see few other humans, because they suck. 22 oz. bottle split with my wife.

The pour is surprisingly dark; there might be brown around the edges, but hand this to someone & it screams “STOUT!” The nose is caramel, oak, & heavy bourbon.

Sunday (2021) seems like a bourbon aged in a barleywine barrel. Hefty bourbon punch up front shouts down everything else. That everything else includes plenty of oak siding, hard caramel, brown sugar, with a finishing note of sugar-soaked raisin. Heavy mouthfeel; big stout territory. The drought must be affecting my glass, it’s lower than I’d expect at this time.

The is an excellent barrel-heavy banger that’s whacking its head on the next level up.

Blackish brown with a light brown cap. Huge aromas of bourbon, molasses, caramel, tons dark fruit, dark oak, barley with decent snarl, deep yet nuanced cocoa and a kiss of tobacco. Taste is much the same, booze and barrel focused, dark fruit defines itself strongly as raisin, prune, and plum. Feel is smooth, warm, very boozy, chewy and thicker for the style. The wife liked it

 

 

Dark brown body, opaque; thin, light brown head, sticky rings of foam along the glass. Nutty, woody smell; brown sugar scent. Brown sugar and milk chocolate taste seasoned with a nice bit of whiskey; chewing tobacco. Heavy body, smooth and rich; chewy; heavy residual sugar feel; some alcohol warmth cuts through the beer's density.

This is a warm, chewy, and delicious big, dark beer.

Decanted at 62 °F; no bottling date noted on the bottle.

 

Very dark mahogany surrounded by thin burnt red edges under a short yet creamy tan head quickly dying to a thin chain.

Excellent and delectable barrel char imparting notes of spiced date pairs with episodes of dark cocoa, peanut brittle, toffee and a little aged grape.

The frothy medium body is a little chewy, finishing lightly sticky yet semi-dry.

I wish I could have taken this home and enjoyed it more sober, because this was at the end of a fairly decent bottle share and could possibly have been my favorite of the night.