Sheol
Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side by side with wooden hell

Pours a very pretty amber with yellowed hues. More head then wooden hell. Smells hoppy. Very very hoppy. Much hotter than wooden hell. Im surprised by how hot this is! Mouthfeel is thinner than I would like. Overall pretty darn solid

A. Pours brown with amber edges. A small tan head as well. A prettier beer than Wooden He'll with more orange and amber than yellow.

S. Changes as it warms. Starts off similiar to wh, then proceeds into a bitter herbiness, then the sweetness comes out again.

T. Lots of spice with hoppy bitterness

M. Body doesn't have the slickness of wh, but the carbonation level on par.

D. A good non-ba barleywine. I'd drink this again, but wouldn't go through the pain to get it.

Thanks to scubarex for sharing this at our Epic Chicago Tasting. The base beer for Wooden Hell.

A - Red with a little bit of orange, not much head on it. No lacing or real retention, bubbles looked pretty big on it.

S - Mellow, a very subtle smell. Some burnt sugar and candy with a bit of fruit to it as well. This seems to be a fairly sweet smelling brew.

T - I really like this beer quite a bit. Quite sweet, dark fruits, caramel, brown sugar. A little bit of bite, almost sour like as you continue to drink it, but I don't think that detracts from the beer at all. A very surprising and good tasting beer.

M - Medium bodied, carbonated, a bit lighter and more effervecent then you would think.

D - Pretty solid on the drinkability scale here, easy to get down, but not quite in the chuggable category.

Big thanks to Russ for bringing this to compare to the Wooden Hell at our tasting...This looks just like WH, a light watery brown not much head to speak off...This takes a huge turn at aroma and taste, while it is nice its now where in the league of WH. Aroma is light dark fruits and caramel. Taste is light woody hops. This is a decent bw, nothing great. Maybe this needs to be drunk on its own and not compared to wh as it is utterly outclassed.

Bottle brought by scubarex to our Epic Chicago Tasting, thanks Russ! Poured side-by-side with Wooden Hell (thanks again, Russ) into tasting glasses (I've added WH notes as well).

A - Pours a Coke-looking brown, light bubbles as cap on top, no lacing, little retention. Looking just like WH.

S - Sweet burnt sugars, candy notes, brown sugar, dark fruits. Very nice. Not as complex as the WH, but pretty solid here. The barrel notes add another dimension to this beer, IMO.

T - Sweetness, dark fruits, plums, raisins, with a slight bitter finish. I think there's some oxidation going on here as well. I know the bottle was stored in proper conditions (55 degrees) since purchase, so any bottles remaining out there need to be consumed.

M - Medium, dry finish.

D - Good, but not in the same ballpark as WH is at this time. I think it's going downhill but still has a bit of time left. Drink now if you have one.

Poured from a bomber to a snifter. I got this at the DLD party a couple of years ago. The liquid is a dark caramel brown, really nice good carbonation. The head is medium tan, two fingers, fades fast and leaves a small ring and some lace.

the smell is sweet rich maltwith a very nice hoppy finish.

The taste is very good, I love this style, I had the brew when it was green, it was good but I did not think I liked the finish all that much, age has done it well. Big fat dark fruit and sweet black bread malt with toasted caramel nots and a citrus hoppy finish reminds me of a great Christmas bread.

The mouthfeel is good better then medium body and nice carbonation.

The drinkability is very nice this beer ages well. Prosit, MK

So I had this at Dave's place from an old growler and decided not to review it as it was flat. I figured with Matt van Wyck leaving town I'd never get another chance, but then Jay shows up with a two-week old clear growler of the stuff that was unopened and still good!

A - A half finger tan foam that dissipates quickly with minimal lacing. Dark brown with cherry-red highlights when held up to the light. Not bad at all for an ancient growler of an English barleywine.

S - Toffees, raisins, prune, caramel malts - this one is super sweet. It's very J.W. Lees Harvest in that the alcohol is well-hidden and it's almost dessert-like.

T - Again, very sweet - malty with toffee, dark fruits, caramel, and so on. There's a sour aftertaste the builds as one consumes this brew - it's almost like the wood flavor from barrel-aging, but since this is the non-barrel-aged version (i.e. not Wooden Hell) I'm guessing it's from residual amarillo hops or something. It gets distracting in any case.

M - There's still some nice carbonation tingle, and lots of residual stickiness. Medium-bodied and very smooth, but a little lighter than I anticipated for the style.

D - The aftertaste, high ABV, and sweetness get to me pretty fast - there were five of us and no one seemed really interested in going back for seconds.

Glad I got to try this one again under better conditions.

on tap poured into a goblet at the brewpub in Flossmoor. pours a chestnut brown with amber highlights with one finger of tan head. good retention and no lacings.

aroma is heavy on the malts, as would be expected, with caramel and crystalized malt notes. a nice profile with a good malt character and rich aroma in the nose.

taste is of rich caramel and sweet crystalized malts along with a backbone of alcohol and a touch of chocolate. very rich and balanced with a very clean finish for a barleywine. finishes with subtle malt and a touch of herbal hops in the aftertaste. nice.

drinkability is good. this is a full bodied brew with a heavy texture and a nice malt richness throughout backed by a warming alcoholic finish. an excellent english barleywine. cheers!

A strong pour only gets a half an inch of deep tan head that fades fast leaving a short crown of lace. Body is a very deep brown with hints of ruby red when held to light. Nose has hints of red wine, hard cherry candy and zesty mahogony almost oak like malts. Enters the mouth very smooth yet layered with dark fruit richness. A crisp toasty malt feel is there and balanced by a nice little hop bite at the back of the tongue. The hops hit at just the right time to balance the over all sweetness of this beer. Mouthfeel is almost electric as the hops ignite on the back of the tongue. Lovely drinkable and unique barleywine.

A - Pours brownish cola, some cascading bubbles around the side, not much head.

S - Cooked Dark fruits and alcohol. Reminds me of a Port like aroma.

T -Sweet and malty. Lots of caramel, and the malt presence reminds me of the malt you put in malted milk. Nice balanced finish with hops doing their job but not going over the top.

M - Thick and gooey. Great coating, almost chewy in texture. Carbonation was a little lower than hoped.

D - Even though big and sweet, the after taste is really appealing and begs for another sip. A nice beer for sure.

Poured a dark brownish cranberry color. Smell was woody, malty and hoppy, but more lightly so than the Wooden Hell Barley Wine they had the same night. Taste was balanced, malt and hops, leaning towards drying hoppiness. Pretty solid beer but not as good as the Wooden Hell.

Appearance: Pours a clear, dark brown body with a thin, wispy, off-white head.

Smell: Sweet-smelling aroma of citrus and dark fruits soaking in alcohol and toasted caramel.

Taste: Sweetish, citrusy flavor with a taste of toasty caramel and brown sugar. Some dark fruitiness. Pinch of spice. Moderate, earthy hop bitterness. Growing citrus character leads you into the fairly dry finish.

Mouthfeel: A bit above medium-bodied. Medium carbonation. Smooth mouthfeel.

Drinkability: A rather pleasant barleywine from Flossmoor Station.

Had the Vintage Barleywine in a goblet last weekend. It was served in a goblet. It poured a hazy mahogony with orange tints. The head stayed around a decent amount of time but left no lacing whatsoever as it drained from the glass. All I can say is it smelled like aged sweetness. Almost like sugary peat. The first thing to hit the tongue is the alcohol presence. After that, it's sweet bread. A light and fluffy mouthfeel coats the tongue and really doesn't let go but it doesn't take away from the overall aged sweetness. It is surprisingly easy to drink. I'm just now getting into barleywines and I'm really glad to have 2 of these in the cellar!

I had this on tap @ the station and decided to buy a bottle to review.

Pours with a small head , no lacing. Dark red when held to light.

Slight perfume hop aroma, piny, a little sweet caramel.

Hops dominate the taste initially, nice Malty backbone.

Mouthfeel is thick , somewhat sweet , low in carbonation.

Overall a very nice barely wine. I did seem to enjoy it more on tap, but who wouldn't? Will save the other bottle in the cellar.