The Irish Punch Up Series Round 1 - Irish Sloe Barley Wine
Lough Gill Brewing Company

Toe it's like an old school hoppy American barley wine,good stuff.

 

Picked this up at the Bottle King in Wayne a few weeks back, as I hadn't hard a Barleywine in quite some time. This was a nice example of it as it was plenty strong and plenty true to form and nearly perfect for the first night under 60 here in quite some time!

This had a nice and lovely ruddy hue to it that was plenty dark in the middle while letting in just enough light on the outside edges to be appealing visually. A nice and full bready head topped this off as it offset the liquid nicely with the lacing being left behind covering about half of the inside of my pint glass as there was a somewhat well-defined ring near the top with plenty of soapy sections and hints of rings the rest of the way down. Just a bit of fine, dark sediment floated in the liquid although this didn't seem old or skunked in the least. Sweet honey, caramel, bread, barley, and booze were in the nose as the taste was plenty strong, with a fair amount of Caramel Malt, rye, alcohol warmth, and spicy bread on the palate as the taste finished as clean as whiskey while being just as invigorating.

Hard to taste the citrus here although there was a hint of grapefruit tang and lemon throughout and a very soft and persistent slickness that stayed on my palate throughout and certainly after the last sip went down. No doubt that this was strong but if you love this style, you won't notice and wouldn't mind at all since there was enough going on here to like. Only "L1725" was stamped on the bottom of the can, so I had no idea how old this was, but I found this to be a fun beer that would be a great example of the style for a neophyte. With a name like Patrick, I'm biased towards quality Irish brews and this was one of them from start to finish. This was easily worth the time to savor and enjoy!

 

 

 

Copper-amber pour without much head. I let this age so the hops are near muted although wisps of pine and Christmas berries persist. So, the aroma is predominantly honeysuckle offset by a of lavender/vanilla esters. But mostly I feel like I just unwrapped a pack of Little Debbie Honey Buns. The taste follows suit with a strong right hook of a glass rimmed with crystalline honey. What follows is a cocktail ironically more prescient of biting botanical slow gin than islay whiskey; background elements of sweet raisins, blue agave, and orange peel. The bitterness of these really provide an uppercut to the richness of the caramelizes malts. Body is slick/creamy more than chewy; the alcohol warmth is very well integrated.

A: The beer is crystal clear reddish amber in color and has a light to moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a quarter finger high off white head consisting of medium-sized bubbles that settled down, leaving wisps of bubbles on the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of caramel malts and spicy hops are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and has flavors of caramel and candied malts with hints of spicy hops, with some faint bits of sweetness trying to peek through the spiciness.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation. There is a bit of warming from the alcohol in the finish.
O: This beer doesn't taste nearly as strong compared to other beers in style and does a very good job at masking its alcohol. It is nice to sip, but is also easy to drink.

Serving type: can

14.9 oz can, w/o canning date info, purchased at Brew and Co. in Bedford, NY

Pours darker, ruby amber, medium hazed, lasting khaki cap, leaves nice looking fields of lacing.

Sniff here is of honey and sweet malts

Pleasing and heady barley wine, malty, with honey, vanilla and wheaty malts coming through......enjoyable BW, worth trying a can or two if you see it in your local shop