Blonde On Blonde - Barton Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Barreled Souls Brewing Company

This one pours a golden reddish orange color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like honey, maple, sugar cookie, cookie dough, bourbon, caramel, and oak.

This is extremely solid. It gives me the vibe of those Biscoff cookies you get on airplanes drizzled with caramel – but just from barrel and malt. There’s some nice oakiness, coconut, and vanilla from the barrel, with sugar cookie, maple, honey molasses, raisin, and a touch of spice.

This is medium bodied, silky and velvety, and not really boozy at all.

Barreled Souls tends to make barrel aged beers exactly the way I like them – with the biggest emphasis on actual barrel character.

I am sampling a 2021 vintage 500 ml bottle of this beer and pouring into my snifter. Picked up at the brewery in 2022 and has been in my cellar since. Seemed a good night to empty this bottle.
The beer pours a copper color with some chestnut color too. A fairly creamy khaki colored, dense head of 1 cm foams up and fades to a thin edge ring. Very limited lacing when I swirl or take a sip from the glass.
Aroma is sweet malts with toffee and brown sugar mixing with a bit of sweet bourbon. Not really boozy or any hop character on the nose. Smells like a bourbon barrel aged barleywine.
First sip reveals a medium to thicker body with slight sticky texture and very fine and tingly carbonation. Definitely a little coating on my lips after each sip.
Flavor is similar to the nose with toffee and brown sugar and some plum flavor mixing with sweet bourbon. Here I do get a little peppery spice from booze, but not any warming. No hop character anywhere either.
This is a well made barrel aged barleywine that has the pieces I like and still isnt overly sweet or candylike. Only improvement would be slightly bigger feel on the beer. But Im enjoying this one from my favorite big beer brewer in Maine!

 

Bottled 12/13/2021 and opened a year later. Pours a nice copper color and is fairly transparent. About an inch of head that recedes fairly quickly. The nose is insanely good. Rich toffee pops immediately. Strong bourbon, vanilla, raisins, candy, a bit of sherry, and prunes. Lovely.

The taste is amazing. Quite sweet, but not too sweet. Toffee, big malts, vanilla, plums, raisins, a big honey note, and a bit of maple. Lemon bread, bourbon, and candies. Very nice overall.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied. The sweetness and low carbonation have the potential to make this syrupy, but I don't think it gets there. Just right. The ABV is remarkably hidden. I honestly can't believe it's as high as it is.

On draft at the brewery, 8 oz served in tulip glass

Dark copper in color, clear. Tons of complex vanilla and caramel flavor but not overly sweet. Not boozy either for such a stong beer. Slightly sticky mouthfeel

Quite a bit darker and more coppery than the base beer, much closer to a regular barleywine in appearance - almost certainly due at least in part to the time spent aging in bourbon barrels. Big but somewhat fizzy off-white head; retention is lacking, but that is hardly unexpected. Perfectly clear and extremely lively body.

The bourbon is prominent right from the pour, blending with fairly traditional barleywine notes up close. The hops have far less bite than the (fresh) base beer, which approaches IIPA levels of bright hoppiness. Notes of coconut, oak, vanilla, brown sugar, leather, grass, toffee, and grape. There's even more going on than I can really pick out, but I'm ready to move on to the taste.

Big, bold, and quite sweet on the palate. The huge malt base leads the way, the bourbon coming on near mid sip; the two then dance their way together through the rest of the sip. Tasting notes lean toward fruity and sweet, in particular honey, grape, coconut, brown sugar, and vanilla. Additional notes include caramel, leather, lemon, and tea.

Between the bourbon influence and the age of the brew, this has really transitioned away from the bright hoppy base beer, and is much closer to an English / British barleywine. Going with such a hoppy base brew was an inspired choice, as the development in the barrel is incredible.

Thick but not chewy; big and bold but not harsh. You can tell this is a very strong beer, but 13.9% isn't even on the radar. Incredibly smooth.

This is a bold, rich, complex, and rewarding brew. If I suggest it's not quite up there with Barreled Souls' best, that's one hell of a high bar - and this is nonetheless an absolutely incredible beer.