Lord Maris, The Otter
Elder Pine Brewing & Blending Co.

16 ounce can into a snifter. Had 5/31/25.

Pours a mostly opaque dark amber color, with a quarter inch quickly dissipating foamy head and light foamy lacing. Aromas of rye whiskey, caramel, fig, oak, some white grape and port, light vanilla and raisin, a little chocolate. Flavors of rye whiskey, caramel, malt, oak, some fig, some port- more as warms, light vanilla and white grape. Has a little bit of a fruity taste. Mostly smooth, a very good medium body, appropriately carbonated.

Quite interesting. The rye whiskey is the most prominent, but the port and sauternes influences have some presence. Has a pretty solid barleywine base and strong caramel and oak notes. Really enjoyed this and appreciate the effort behind it.

Very dark brown body with a tan ring. Big sweet malt with raisin, grape, black currant, toasted caramel, and faint barley. dark rye, with oak. Taste has more like pungent note to the grape and raisin upfront, but the back is bourbon, rye, caramel malt molasses, and barley. Feel is warmer on the backend, but never gets too hot, fuller body, but not heavy, but not as smooth as it could be. Good, but not great, but points for breaking the mold a bit with the barrel choices

 

 

This one pours a very dark brown color, with a very small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like caramel, fruit leather, oak, vanilla, oak, and vague spicing.

As the barrels were port and sauternes here, this does trend towards the sweeter end of the barleywine spectrum. It’s quite fruity – stone fruit and red grapes mainly, maybe some berry notes. There’s caramel, fruitcake, breadiness, baking spices, vanilla, and lots of oak as well.

This is definitely a slow sipper, as it’s sweeter. It’s not cloying though, as the hit of boozy warmth does help balance this slightly.

I think I would have preferred one of the barrels in this blend to be dryer, but with what we have, I still really enjoyed it.