Castaway Barrel-Aged Barleywine
Old Stove Brewing Co.

2025-06-07
12oz served in a stemless BA rastal. BW 12.03.24 is printed on the bottom, and it's a 2024 vintage. Don't remember where I picked it up.

Pours translucent dark amber, medium to small sized head, leaves a thick dusting or a thin cap with a maybe 2mm ring. Smell is rye spice and toffee, grain and musty oak, somewhat boozy.

Taste is more on the woody and astringent side, some vanilla and generic sweetness, lots of wood. Strong earthy bitter, lots of nuts.

Mouthfeel is medium to light, dry and clean, surprisingly refreshing. Overall, nice beer.

---
2026-01-23
2025 vintage, same glass. 12.13.25 is printed on the bottom. Previous description is pretty accurate, would throw in a bit more toffee and date sweetness.

2024 version, from a 12 ounce can.

I like this beer quite a bit, but it ultimately is just a little disappointing. This is a beer for those who like bourbon, which usually includes me. But I find the bourbon character in this beer to be out of balance, like an instrument in a jazz combo that dominates the overall sound, to the detriment of the whole. Usually I like the barrel aged beers, and the more barrel influence the better. In this case, less barrel and less bourbon would make this more pleasing.

There's nothing subtle about this beer. Recommended for those who really like bourbon, and not so much for those who are fans of smoothly blended barleywines. I myself will be getting a couple of more cans.

22oz bottle (2021 vintage) into a tulip. Pours a slightly murky reddish brown with a thin off-white head.

Aroma is a dense blend of rum-soaked figs and dates, caramel, toffee, brown sugar, and vanilla. Some vaguely spicy notes.

Taste is on the syrupy side of sweet but not in a bad way. Similar to the aroma, lots of sugars and gently roasted/fruity flavors. Molasses and honey. Like what I imagine an imperial Old Stock would taste like, if such a beer exists.

Mouthfeel is slick and chewy—this is pretty heavy stuff. Warms my chest as it goes down.

Overall a good dessert sipper. I’ll be nursing this for the next few hours.

A little sharp for my tastes, combo bitterness from hops and alcohol, but really nice overall.

Sampling a cellar temp 2021 vintage , 22 oz waxed bottle and pouring into my trusty snifter. The beer pours a very deep mahogany color and has some lighter ruby highlights when I hold to a light source.
A dense creamy beige khaki colored head of just under 1 cm foams up on the pour. This foam fades to a very sturdy, and clingy edge layer. I get pretty dense lattice when I swirl the glass or take a sip. This beer looks nice and the dense head with 13% ABV is pretty impressive to me.
Aroma is rich and malty, sweet with out cloying. I get brown sugar and candied pears, with some werthers toffee and a decent amount of bourbon. No fusol booze, or any hop presence.
First sip reveals a medium body and smooth, fairly silky texture. Carbonation is very fine and soft on my palate. Does provide some coating on my lips and palate on each sip.
Flavor is very similar to the nose, with toffee and light fruity notes again pears are what I pick up. Bourbon sweetness and a little dry wooden barrel hint. There is some black pepper bite on the finish, which clues me in to the warming that occurs after the swallow. No hop character that I can detect.
This is a tasty barleywine that features some of the best qualities of the style but isnt overly aggressive with any of them.
Quite the sipper that I will spend the rest of my evening enjoying. Very glad to have tried this one!

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark brownish red with little light transmission in the glass and a half finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark and caramel malt, bourbon, dates and raisins; bourbon forward. Flavor is dry caramel malt, raisins, dates, bourbon. Some fresh plum and fruit esters as well as light hop bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A quite fine, rich barleywine. Starts with almost classic English barleywine flavors of dark fruit and caramel malt, but some fresher fruit appears near the finish. Lots of bourbon throughout, but it is well supported and integrates with the other flavors. There is a light hop bitterness in the finish which is unexpected, because of the English overall feel of this brew, but is minor enough to not disconcert. I would have recommended a change in style to English barleywine if not for the hop notes. An Americanized take on the English style without the fresh fruit and hops of the traditional American version. Really comes together well and very enjoyable. I'll be looking for this every year. Yum. 2021 version at 13% ABV.