Barley Butcher - Barrel-Aged
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery

 

 

Canned 1/5/22; drank 3/18/22 @ the Yarchives.

Opaque dark brown appearance.

An even pour yielded a small, noisy tan head; almost no lace.

Caramel, oak, leather & faint bourbon notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Bourbon heat & mild caramel flavors; mild oak notes on the finish.

A promising nose, but the beer isn't substantial enough to stand up to the bourbon barrels. Close, but no cigar.

On draft at ITap - CoMo. Poured a dark, dark brown color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left sticky rings of lace on the glass. It smelled of bourbon, oak, vanilla, toffee and sweet caramel. Big, boozy taste with oak and vanilla. Sweet toffee, caramel and butterscotch taste.

Pours a dark brown, almost black color with a half finger of tan head that dissipates quickly. Liquid Raisinet's. Also get Werther's Originals, crème brulee, fig, plum, slight grape, some roast, tobacco, molasses, rye whiskey spice, oak tannin, bourbon spirit, wine-soaked oak, vanillin. High medium body. Slick, oily, sticky. An excellent blended beer.

 

Thanks to my OG Andre (actually, I despised that little bitch in high school) for bringing this 16 oz. can (dated 1/5/22) back from his Chicago visit. My first big pour of Maplewood barrel.

Dark red; a bit like Uhtred’s sword for most of Tettenhall, quite opaque. The nose brings barrel heat, rich toffee & a surprising amount of Madeira.

Barley Butcher – Barrel Aged is a beast. Barrels come spitting fire in the back of the throat: rye, bourbon, & Madeira are all clearly present, with the toffee being the only ‘beer’ ingredient to stand up to these big boys. Significant booziness. Subdued flecks of chewy leather, prune, spices, & a touch of red wine that stands apart from the rich fruits of the Madeira. Thick & coating, missing carbonation for the most part. A smaller would have been wiser.

A superb use & balance of barrels, but they pummel the base beer nearly into irrelevance. This could have been spectacular; as is, still an excellent beer (& I’m slightly disappointed?).

 

just had this a 2022 version - great tasting barley wine sweet malty and strong

Had on tap. Black/the darkest brown opaque body with a tan collar. Huge barley, rye, bourbon, and oak in the nose with caramel and big raisin oozing out. Taste is wonderful in how the bourbon and madeira barrel interact with molasses, raisin and caramel being huge flavors, barley, oak, leather, tobacco, and chocolate add some contrasting tones, raisin overall comes out strongest, truly a different take on the style. The issue is the heat, this one needed to age as it is pretty warm verging on hot, especially as it warmed, body is sneaky chewy and robust too. Great idea, decent execution, tweaks will go far, definitely a beer for a cold winter night by the fire

16oz tall boy poured into Durobar Charente glass with HF logo.

bottom of can says : "blood of the finest barley canned 1/5/2021".

Appearance: dark brown bodied barleywine with big off white head that pours very tall after an aggressive pour. The head has some staying power, but after less than 5 minutes, the head falls down to a ring around the glass. No lacing.

Smell: Big wafts of rye whiskey, caramel and vanilla. Spicy red wine and oak. This is a really complex nose on this barrel aged Barelywine.

Taste: Big red wine tannins that are spicy, slightly astringent, and lightly bitter. Rye whiskey takes that spicy red wine and builds on it even more. Not as sweet as the nose leads you to think it will be. Very "prune forward" dark fruit flavors here, not necessarily in a good way either. Hint of soy sauce. Big tobacco and big leather in the finish. While I do love these barrel flavors, I need some sweetness or richness to go with them and it's just not there.

Mouthfeel: medium bodied barleywine. Low and adequate carbonation. It's not really boozy at all. It's fairly smooth for sure, but it is missing the barleywine richness for sure.

Overall: The nose of this beer was very promising, but the flavor did not deliver like the aroma promised. Keep wishing that this beer tasted like it smelled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

22 ounce bottle into a tulip. Had 6/24/17.

Pours a fairly clear dark amber, ruby in the light, not much of a head, very spotty lacing. Aromas of plums, grapes, whiskey- more as it warms, malt, cherries, figs, wine, light vanilla. The taste mostly follows the nose- whiskey- again, more as it warms, plums, figs, lighter malt than the aroma, cherries, light vanilla and red wine, light alcohol. Smooth, a light body for the style, but not thin feeling, could use a touch more carbonation.

Really good whiskey barrels, and overall flavor and aroma. Could have used a little more malt and carbonation, but not big negatives. Very enjoyable, would buy again.

 

Draft at the brewery.
Dark reddish brown, minimal foam and spotty lace. Huge brown sugar aroma, tiny bit of caramelized plantain. Bourbon rich flavor, vanilla, oak, sweet brown sugar. Medium bodied but slightly thin with low carb. Boozy but pretty well hidden. Smooth feel. Dangerously good stuff on a cold winter night.