Outen the Light
Bonesaw Brewing Company

 

 

 

2021 release. Poured into a tulip glass at 43°. It pours mahogany with dark cola hues and a thin, foamy, toffee-colored cap and minimal lacing. It has a good nose featuring brown sugar, caramel, raisin, fig, and cola. It's quite sweet with lots of brown sugar and caramel, along with notes of chocolate. The fruit is also front and center - lots of fig, raisin, and perhaps a hint of black cherry. The taste of cola is also prevalent and it has a soft drink quality. The rye whiskey influence is subtle at first but as it warms it becomes more noticeable and boozy. Another benefit of warming is some cigar and a slight hoppy bitterness at the finish. It's moderately bodied with an appropriate level of carbonation and there is no escaping the 15.3% ABV. This is a big Barleywine that should be sipped slowly - both due to the alcohol level and to let the tastes develop. Overall, this is a very good English Barleywine but it's definitely on the sweeter end of the spectrum.

My first from this brewery. I understand this is an anniversary offering; 14 months in Templeton rye whiskey barrels. Just phenomenal, has assertive barrel presence, loads of complexity, straddles that dark stout influenced barleywine line in a - dark I say it -king Henry style. This is just so up my personal alley for a malt driven barrel aged beer, with brûlée sugar and dark fruit, wood and chocolate and whiskey, sweetness but so much more. Will definitely be grabbing a few more of these beauties with alacrity!