Time of Whispers
Varietal Beer Company

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. A two year old, properly cellared bottle. Pours a medium to dark brownish orange with some floating particles and a little haziness. A thin khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dry caramel malt, whiskey, dates, plums and a little leather. Flavor is dry caramel malt, whiskey, well dried light stone fruit or fruit cake fruit, whiskey, dates, raisins and some woody oak in the finish. Medium bodied with sharp carbonation. Nice barleywine in the English style with more dates and light dried fruit than the typical plum dominating. Fairly complex fruit flavors that are hard to parse, but fitting for the style. Good whiskey and woody/oaky barrel character, the latter mostly in the finish. Although the mouth feel was mostly normal, maybe somewhat sharper carbonation on the tongue than typical, this had a quite active light fizzy carbonation that I could hear at arms length. I suspect the fruit flavors are not as deep as original, wish I had tasted this fresh too, although I enjoyed it at this stage quite a bit. I'd get this again.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a murky brown with very little head. The nose is fantastic. Tons of barrel comes through right away. Bourbon big time. Caramel, figs, vanilla, and touch of maple.

The taste is outstanding. Big bourbon-soaked caramels. Vanilla, brown sugar, some alcohol notes, prunes, plums, raisins, English tea, and some strong bready malts. Lovely.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied with a nice boozy toffee aftertaste. This definitely drinks lower than the ABV. Overall, a great barleywine.

 

 

this thing is enormous, rich and sweet, woody and old tasting, a blend, barrel forward, a cool cap to a heady weekend of beer drinking to say the very least. its alcoholic right from the get go, but it never advances beyond the reasonable realm for the style, even as it sits and warms up. awesome packaging to this, slightly darker color than many, mahogany, more red than bronze or anything, and without much head, thick but not overly leggy, on the still side, with some haze, but not sloppy looking, just patient and mature. the nose is bigtime bourbon, vanilla and charred oak, wet lumber, caramelized grain, an english breadiness there, molasses and honey, and just a little oxidation which i never mind in these. the flavor is even more complex than the nose, just slightly astringent, with wood tannins out in front with layers from the malt base that include graham cracker and pie crust, praline and pecan, date and golden raisin, and dark rustic bread, slightly yeasty in a good way, but all of this is behind the bourbon to me. vanilla and maple, toffee and rum, light spiciness before the sweet hot finish, wood for days. not all that much body for how big this is, like it washes kind of clean after each sip, or at least has a slow fade, i taste it new again each pull i take. big cognac , cherry wood, and vanilla finish, really lovely, probably would benefit from some additional cellar time. cool to see these guys doing so many styles so well now, im becoming a big fan!