Creation's Shadow
Upper Pass Beer Company

Bottle: Poured a dark brown color ale with a small dark brown foamy head with light retention and minor lacing. Aroma of caramelized malt with light dry fruit notes with some vanilla and bourbon notes. Taste is also a good mix of caramelized malt notes with some vanilla and bourbon with light dry fruit notes and some balanced residual sugar notes. Body is pretty full with some good carbonation. Soldi BA barleywine.

Bought this at Brewfest Beverage in Ludlow today only because I was in the mood for a Barleywine. Figured it would be ok at best. Was pleasantly surprised by how good it is!

 

Bourbon Barrel-Aged Barleywine
11.0% abv.
500 ml. bottle.
Bottle 197 of 350.

Moderate pour yields a one inch light tan head over a dark brown, red tinged body with some lacing. Nose of dark malt, dark fruit, caramel, vanilla, and a bit of boozy oak. Taste of dark fruit, caramel, slight bourbon; with a bit of vanilla, then cherry, on the finish. Very smooth, not too sweet, and quite tasty. Very nice feel and overall, a tasty treat, certainly sweet, but not cloyingly sweet. I'd highly recommend this gem from Tunbridge, VT.
Cheers!!!

L: Clear, dark brown/red with a thin head that immediately dissipates leaving no lacing. Not out of character for the style.

S: Subdued aroma of Bourbon, honey, caramel, vanilla, and dried dark fruit.

T: Much more intense than the aroma, delicous caramel and bourbon notes, vanilla and raisin as well as some tannic oak and sherry. Some spicy booze lingers on the tongue in the finish as well as the bourbon and those sweet caramel and vanilla notes.

F: Not syrupy in the slightest, even dry compared to many barleywines. With that said, very sweet in the grand scheme of things.

Overall: A really tasty barleywine. The aroma is kind of a dud but the taste is great and it has a very nice mouthfeel. Great beer.