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Illuminated Brew Works

very flavorful barley wine, strong - great beer to enjoy - malty

$ 17.58 (Including shipping)/750 mL bottle ($ 0.691) from Tavour, Seattle, WA. Tavour emailed to warn that some bottles had a yeast problem and tended to overflow. This one did not. Reviewed 1/11/19.
Undated capped bottle stored at 42 degrees and served at 57 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Appearance – 4.
Body – Amber, hazy. Layer of sediment in bottom of bottle.
Head – Large (Maximum six cm, controlled center pour), initially fizzy, tan, medium density, average duration, diminishing to a two to three mm ring and a rocky partial layer.
Lacing – None – as expected.
First pour – Medium amber, clear.
Aroma – 4.5 – Caramel, orange, ginger. Lasts.
Flavor – 4 – Light caramel balanced with orange and ginger. Ends with a touch of hoppy bitterness. No post-consumption gastric warming. No alcohol (11% ABV), no diacetyl, no dimethylsulfide.
Palate – 3.5 - Medium, almost creamy, carbonation is livelier than normal for a barley wine.
Impression and interpretation – 4 – A pleasing variation on the typical sticky-sweet barley wine. The orange and ginger attenuate the caramel flavor and the increased carbonation lightens the potential syrupiness with a bit of tongue-teasing. Hibiscus, you say? Sorry – it doesn’t trip my coarse proletarian taste or smell senses. The massive head formed from each pour is probably caused by the unintentional bottle conditioning, but this serendipitous over-carbonation is what elevates this above the average American barley wine.

Pours a dark amber, almost but not quite opaque and pretty attractive with a 2-finger foamy head. There's talk this beer suffered accidentally from yeast that ended up 'refermenting' in the bottle (according to Tavour, where I got this from) and I was warned there'd be a foam bomb but this didn't happen. But for a 11% bw, there was more head than expected.

A very slow pour therefore. Aroma is citrusy, hoppy, bit of dark stone fruit in there. Taste is of raisin, sour watermelon, buttery tobacco, a bit of a bite, not super malty. That butter taste makes me aware of possible aggressive yeastiness or just diacetyl. Generally not what you might expect from a barleywine. A bit lagery. It says here there's ginger in it and that contributes to the tinge I'm tasting. Ginger. Hmm. In a barleywine?

Mouthfeel is a bit sticky (check), lingering aftertaste of the yeast is haunting me. As it warms I'm getting a little less maltiness in general. Not watery, but not not big tasting. Does it work? Boozy without being hot. Well balanced but I have a suspicion the overenthusiastic yeast may have bread-ed this one up a bit.

An imperfect sample that is drinkable but unspectacular.