No Touchy
Pathlight Brewing

 

 

This barleywine is a fresh brew. It was canned, and the cans sold out in a day.
That being said …
The nose is coffee/chocolate, fig and raisins. No discernible head poured from the tap.
The taste follows the nose with a creep of molasses as it warms. (It must be said that this is delicious at first sip.) Notes of dark grape enter, dark fruit.
There’s a sugary stickiness on the sides of the mouth.
The barrel aging comes in at the finish, whisky oaky. The scent of the emptied glass has 14 percent heat.
This is a sippable brew that reveals different notes each time.
Do not drink and drive.

Pours a dark brown with a muddy transparency. A finger of tan foam sits atop, but it bubbles away quickly, revealing a still liquid underneath. Legs form on the glass every swirl, emphasizing the weight of this beer.

Aroma is raisins, fig, and dates straight from the draft line even from a distance. As the beer warms, it leans more into toasty and caramel, covering up some of those initial dark fruit notes. Boozy peppermint and candy cane are a prominent note in the final 2/3s of the flavor profile, and while these mold into the surroundings better as the beer warms, they are still a consistent theme. Molasses comes on more as the beer warmed into its final couple sips. It's complex, never quite sweet despite the notable candy cane notes, being pulled into balance by cutting whiskey and barrel.

Flavor profile is driven by the same two initial notes: fig and raisins. Hard candy sugar, and candy canes come on quickly afterwards. It's boozy on the back half, bringing on strong notes of whiskey and barrel, leaning into the latter more. It's more of a big analog swell of heat vs. a digital spike, meaning the heat is not out of place, nor is it not foreshadowed. As the beer warms, the complexities go even further: resin hops come in, but are faint, and dates and molasses add some sweetness. Those hops really aren't apparent at draft temperature, but really drive forward as the beer warms, bringing a wonderful balance to the whole malt and barrel driven flavor profile.

Mouth feel is thick, with a still effervescence. It's sticky, like a warmed hard candy. Grit is minimal.

Overall, a resolute barleywine using barrel and whiskey to bring it further depth. Candy cane notes may be odd ball to some, but otherwise, the complexity and intricacy is mesmerizing.

Draft. Reviewed from notes.