Barrel Aged HBIC
East Forty Brewing

Appearance: Clear dark amber, good head.

Smell: Minerals, sweetness, barrel wood.

Taste: Starts moderately sweet and thick, caramel dominates until some barrel/wood and booze comes in. Smoothes out as it warms up. Remains pretty heavy in body. Finishes with barrel, booze, and what seems like a little hoppiness.

Overall: I didn't get to stop by the brewery while in Blue Springs, but picked up this bottle while in town at a bottle shop. A somewhat mild BA barleywine, doesn't whack you with booze or huge flavors, just a nicely balanced barleywine.

22oz bottle. Poured out a dark, dark amber color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left sudsy lacing on the glass. It smelled of toffee, chocolate, whiskey, oak and vanilla. Sweet chocolate and toffee taste with whiskey taste. Notes of vanilla and charred oak.

Dark red/brown color with a modest tan head.
The aroma is bourbon, prunes, figs, caramel and vanilla.
The taste is boozy, bourbon, figs, raisins, brown sugar, caramel, vanilla. The finish dries out a bit with some nice herbal hops and a touch of alcohol warmth.
The body is medium/full, mild carbonation, very smooth, almost slick, very drinkable, but taking the time to sip and enjoy is advised. This should go well with typical holiday fare, or after dinner anytime, very nice.

Poured at fridge temp into a snifter. Pours a nice dark brown with little head. Nose is toffee, figs, prunes, bourbon, vanilla, and a nice amount of booze. The taste is phenomenal. Wonderful toffee and bourbon notes. The bourbon is surprisingly strong given the ABV of 10%. Figs, pears, prunes, and some sweet maple. Very smooth and nicely integrated. A very small amount of bitter leather on the back end. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the ABV seems apparent given the strong barrel character.

Pours a deep burgundy with a brown hue when held against the light. Transparency is muddy, and heavily fogged. Two fingers of off-white foam sit atop. Aroma is raisins, dates, red apples, cinnamon, and spry molasses and toffee. Some heat links into the back by way of whiskey. It's just enough heat to heat up the envelope wax to seal up the letter, and not take it into unbalanced. Faint herbal hops close it out. Flavor profile is molasses, fig, raisins, toffee, and hearty caramel. Crisp red apple cuts underneath, adding natural sweetness. It hits whiskey notes late, but doesn't linger, adding a tiny swell of heat before receding. This late swell of whiskey brings the whole thing balance, drawing the initial sugary notes to a close. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a still effervescence. Some fine silt sits at the bottom, becoming a more major player as the beer warms. Overall, it bounces around the usual barleywine notes, with apple as an oddity in the mix.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 22oz bottle.