Vanilla Maris
Timber Ales

 

16 ounce can into a tulip snifter. Had 7/24/25.

Pours a mostly opaque dark ruby color, with a quarter inch quickly dissipating foamy head and light foamy lacing. Aromas of caramel, malt, vanilla, fig, some raisin, light brown sugar and plum. Pretty much the same flavors: vanilla, caramel, malt, some fig and brown sugar, light chocolate. Has a decent amount of hop bitterness. Smooth, a little creamy, a very good medium body, well carbonated.

Good stuff. Lots of vanilla, a really solid base, and the caramel and fig notes stand out. Well worth a purchase.

Poured deep brown with mahogany tints and a beige 1 cm head that left no lacing.
The taste leads with vanilla, no doubt about its presence. But it doesn’t end there - the malts present toffee and caramel and, well, vanilla with figs and raisins wrapped in leather filling out the flavors.
The feel is slightly viscous, just what I prefer in my Barleywines.
OA, it’s not priced in west Michigan to allow for really regular drinking, but I wouldn’t mind buying one every other month or so.

 

A - Pours dark brown with a thin tan head. Light sticky lacing.

S - Aroma is brown sugar, toffee, vanilla and chocolate.

T - The taste is raisins, figs, brown sugar, toffee, chocolate, vanilla and a bitter hop bite.

M - Full body with medium carbonation. Syrupy mouthfeel with a slick dry finish.

O - Solid barleywine. The vanilla is there, but doesn’t overpower the base beer.

 

Poured into a BA tiku. Has a short brownish head that settles after a minute. The aroma has notes of vanilla bean, caramelized sugar, and figs. The flavor is big. There is vanilla bean and vanilla extract throughout mixed with raisins, figs, and plum. There is a caramelized sweetness underneath it all. Just a hint of bitterness in the finish. There is also just a hint of chocolate that I notice. It's full bodied and perfectly carbed.

This is a really enjoyable beer. The vanilla is sweet but not cloying. At 12% I hardly notice the alcohol.

 

16oz can. Dark brown pour, fine beige head. Sweet aroma, malty, brown sugar, notes of vanilla. Taste is sweet, malty, vanilla, leather. Smooth. latent Heat.

 

Pour: black with no head.
Nose: vanilla.
Flavor: vanilla, coffee and caramel.
Mouthfeel: creamy and a little sticky.
Finish: smooth and creamy.
Overall: Enjoyable but I would've liked to taste more barleywine.

 

 

 

Solid black appearance witha thin tan head that dissipates quickly.
Light carbonation but the body is silky,thick,creamy and coats the mouth. To me it was a very impressive feel to this beer.
Aroma is vanilla,malt,some dark fruit, coffee,booozy, with some chocolate. A lot going on but nothing dominated and stood out but this was a good thing.
Taste was definitely sweet but not overly so which allowed all the flavors to come through.
Not usually a fan of this style and there was a lot going on but I found it to be an excellent, way above average beer.

 

2022-06-18
16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Can is dated 03/25/21. Bought it at A1 Hop Shop in Seattle.

Pours a very dark brown with a very small head. Lots of fine, slow carbonation. Smell is tons of dark chocolate, and some vanilla. A little bit of a red licorice aroma.

Taste is soft, sweet milk chocolate, vanilla with a marshmallow vibe. Mild coffee notes. Dates and some oak.

Mouthfeel is thick and chewy. Overall, this is tasty. I would have guessed that there was a mix of stout with this barleywine.

Thanks to whomever sent this 16 oz. can to me, I believe in a recent BIF, for my first taste of Timber Ales. Lots of scores that start with “4” on their brewery page. Impressive.

The pour is dark red & quickly goes still & silent. The nose is mostly classic barleywine with caramel & dark fruits, plus an odd side of vanilla.

Vanilla Maris is an odd duck. The caramel, toffee, & dark fruits interact awkwardly, like your first handshake at work after 110 months of COVID. Whether a natural clash of tastes or lack of brewing chops in this single case, the addition of vanilla just doesn’t work well. I mean, it’s fine, I don’t hate it like I hate Proud Boy hats, but what looks like a fine idea on paper doesn’t work in my mouth.

But I hate to punish innovation in this era where just about everything has been added to just about every style. Decent enough.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a thin dark khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dry biscuit malt, dates, vanilla and a hint of caramel; oddly subdued. Flavor is dry biscuit and caramel malt, dates, raisins molasses, lots of vanilla. Semi-sweet dark fruit finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. An interesting attempt at a pastry barleywine. Quite vanilla forward, but a sturdy, if somewhat sweet, English barleywine base pulls this through. It seems like the style that has more biscuit than fruit notes, but the vanilla makes it hard to parse out other flavors. It is different enough that it is disconcerting at first, but the flavor grew on me as I drank it. Definitely a dessert ale. Since age usually brings out sweetness in this style, it is probably not a candidate for aging, as it is sweet enough right now. I liked it for its unique flavors, but a bit unbalanced in the vanilla part of the profile.