CTC
Cycle Brewing

 

Murky brown body with a tan head. Taste is more complex: barley, big barrel, toffee, earth, toasted caramel, and general booze. Smells more boozy, with barrel tannins and toffee with barley. Feel is warm and medium bodied, not super smooth with barley snarl and booze. Weller version is slightly better

 

A good example of the style. Boozy bourbon flavors over the strong English Barleywine base. Thick, sweet, syrupy, notes of dark fruit and caramel and molasses. The thick syrupy part might be the bring down for this beer, as it’s a little cloying. But otherwise, it’s enjoyable.

Had a hard time getting past how cloyingly sweet it is. I bought two bottles and just opened the first. I'm going to put the other one in long term storage hoping against hope it ages well

Poured from a 22oz bottle into a Perennial SdC tumbler. Pours a darker brown with shiny patches here and there. Lots of butterscotch and toffee with a decent bourbon sting on the nose. Tastes has less butterscotch flavor and more oak, light tobacco, dark fruit and caramel. It’s good but I like the aromas better than the flavors. Full mouthfeel. Sticking and coating. Damn fine bourbon barrel-aged barleywine. The bourbon barrel is super well integrated and every bit as big of an aspect as the base barleywine.

Clear, dark brown pour, appears opaque in the glass; thick head, somewhat fizzy yet lasting, khaki colored. Rich, malty and sweet nose; roasted grains; dark chocolate; molasses; oak. Divine taste; rich milk chocolate; brown sugar and molasses; cinnamon; very well-hidden booziness. Heavy body; velvety and sticky; chewy; low-key alcohol warmth throughout.

This thick and chewy barrel-aged barleywine is sublime. I really wavered between rating the taste a '5' or 4.75' as it is just so well-balanced and complex. Cycle does not provide ABV levels on their barrel aged beers per email correspondence I had with owner Doug Dozark (his explanation being one needs really specialized and expensive equipment to figure this out due to the barrels), but it is safe to say the ABV is well North of 10%. Anyway, the beer is sublime in all respects.

ABV: unk (assumed around 10-13%); pouring temperature: 45.3 ℉; bottling info: appears to be 2024
Source: Tavour

This one pours a dark brown-ish, burgundy color, with a small head, and a bit of lacing.

This smells oaky, almost cedar-like, with vanilla, caramel, toffee, and molasses.

Cycle is well known for their barrel aged stouts, usually of the pastry variety, but they also somewhat sneakily do barrel aged barleywines really, really well. The oak character is dense, complex, and delightful. It’s almost amburance or cedar-like, with a really complex warming spice. There’s also lots of caramel, a touch of chocolate, honey, molasses, and brown sugar.

This is medium bodied, not very boozy, and quite drinkable.

I really used to chase this brewery and try to get the whole weekday sets and all that. My beer chasing days are mostly over, but it’s still reassuring to see some of my old favorites are still pumping out solid beers.

Draught @The Vault. Thanks, Brent!