Broadway Barleywine
Mineral Springs Brewery

The most important thing to know about this beer is that you need to drink it at least as warm as a Belgian Quad. When cold, this barleywine has an unpleasant medicinal aroma and flavor. I have have never known a beer with such temperature-dependent flavor. This sensitivity is responsible for most of my dings to the rating.

Pours a very dark coppery red with a stiff tan head. The head is short-lived.

At a warmer temperature, the nose raisiny dark fruit and spice. Spot-on for the style.

The flavor also conforms faithfully to the genre at a warmer temperature. The malts have a sweet depth with pronounced raisin and spice (clove-cinnamon-ish) notes that quickly move to the fore with each sip. The hops are mostly present in the backend, at which point the deep malty sweetness reasserts itself to create a nice balance that carries over into the aftertaste.

All in all, this is a very good barleywine. For it to be good, though, you must let it warm up.