Meantime Barleywine Ale
Meantime Brewing Company Limited

Look: It pours dark gold in color with orange tinges. There is very little head to speak of. The head is a whittish orange. It is quite cloudy.

Smell: It has aromas of caramel and toffee. There are also bread elements in the background with an orange marmalade likeness.

Taste: There are Flavors of bready, caramel, molasses, and orange marmalade. The malt presentation has an overall sweetness to it with bitterness coming in towards the finish. There is also some alcohol in the presentation as well.

Feel: It has a full body that is slight chewy. The carbonation is quite low. There is some light alcohol warming.

Overall the malt presentation takes center states with a sweetness in the finish.

Thoroughly enjoyed from the corked 750 ml bottle in a snifter. This fantastic ale pours
a rustic murky orange copper color with a modest head of white foam that fades to a
thick ring, thin light pool, and nice light lacing. Nose of orange zest, light mango notes,
subtle floral notes, and sweet caramel malts. Flavors exclaim a deft of brewing with orange
and mango notes hitting and then fading to a light sherry and caramel note with floral hops
and subtle vanilla. Warming booze hits the right notes on the sides and rear of the taste finishing
moderately sweet and lightly hoppy. Balance balance BALANCE. This one hits it perfectly. Excellent
smooth mouth feel, sweet, low carbonation, and perfect for sipping. Excellent! One of the best
from a fantastic brewer.

Cheers

 

It doesn't look like much. It's a murky faded peach skin color. It's not clear at all, opaque. No head ever forms and even after a good swirl, there isn't much to talk about, not even something I'd call lacing is provided.

The smell is pleasant with its mostly caramel malt scent. Nothing else is really present other than a minuscule amount of vanilla, but that's good enough for me.

The malt bomb delivers a great taste, so different from the style on this side of the pond. It's all caramel and vanilla.

Supremely easy to drink despite 8.5% ABV. Slightly sweet all the way til the finish, it's very smooth and creamy. There's only a hint of bitter and it occurs right at the finish, but doesn't longer long. A palate wrecker this is not.

Overall, I love this beer. It's so easy to drink, 750 ml may not be enough.

Pours a transparent amber into a snifter, producing moderate head but leaving significant lacing as it dissipates. Significant bready yeasts on the nose, along with currants, floral Manzanilla, fruity hops, mango, and light vanilla and caramel. Quite an interesting bouquet, as it hits all of the traditional English barleywine notes, but in different proportions than typical. The flavors are similar in being balanced but unique. Lots of English hops, bready malt, and stonefruit, but only modest amounts of the caramel, vanilla and molasses that usually point a barleywine in the English direction.

The mouthfeel is moderately thin, to the detriment of the rest of the experience. A fuller body might contribute to a less hoppy, bitter finish that would make this more of a pleasant sipper. Still quite nice, though.

Balanced like English barleywine but with the somber and drinkable strength of strong "stack" ale, Meantime brewers are intent to tease the senses with complex malt flavor but with dangerously smooth taste.

Dark fruit, maple and light booze fill the nose with savory sweet notes that evoke mouthwatering effects, all above a swirling, deep brass body. Its subtle carbonation allows for the malt to coat the mouth with its saturating caramels, toffees and cake flavors early on.

Rising fruit weave into the malty matrix with those stone, pitted and dried varieties: fig, date, raisin lurk in fruitcake fashion, but high grape esters lead the candied way. Stern hops bring up the final impressions as its broad and woodsy bitterness is moderate with bark, spruce and leaf.

With its slow finish looming, certain aged notes of tobacco and port rise from the malt and highlight the ale's more satisfying nuances. But once the warmth of alcohol set in, the ale begins to dissolve and break apart with its medium carbonation. Even with its relatively moderate alcohol, age will certainly be kind for the beer- for those with the patience to cellar.

 

 

 

750 ml bottle into snifter; bottled on 3/12/2013, best before 9/12/2014. Pours slightly hazy dark orange/copper color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of big caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, nuttiness, brown sugar, raisin, plum, fig, apple, white grape, herbal, grass, and and herbal/yeast earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good complexity and balance of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, and earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, nuttiness, brown sugar, raisin, plum, fig, apple, white grape, herbal, grass, and herbal/yeast earthiness. Fair amount of herbal/grassy bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toast, toffee, biscuit, nuttiness, brown sugar, raisin, plum, fig, apple, white grape, and herbal/yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity and robustness of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, and earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a smooth and moderately creamy/bready, and slightly slick mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a light warming present after the finish. Overall this is an awesome English barleywine! All around great complexity, balance, and robustness of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, and earthy hop flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the ABV. A highly enjoyable offering.