Puddin' Wine
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

Semi-clear burnt acorn with a fuzzy thin ring, the caramel is light, and it's more woody and splintery, as a firm fizz gives a tingly sting, making it seem fairly hoppy with dank orange and an almost hickory smoke but not quite. Dark fruits, currant and sultana brighten and sharpen it up before a semi-dry finish.

 

Pours a dark, frosty burgundy with a finger of off-white head. Head retention is good. Aroma is alcohol, plum, grapes, barley and hay. Flavor profile is plum, raisins, caramel and toffee with bourbon and barley delivering a bit of boozy heat. Mouth feel burns a bit, with a velvety, tingly fizzy feel. It's medium-thick. Overall, the heat peaks through the curtains on this one disrupting the balance.

Draft. Reviewed from notes.

 

L: Had this beer on-tap at Beer Run, poured into a snifter glass. Had a red-amber color and a slightly hazy consistency. There was a quarter inch of foamy, off white, fairly long-lasting head. Pretty good lacing.

S: A nice aroma of dark fruit, malt, caramel, a vinous quality, and brown sugar.

T: Tasted of a moderate amount of malt (noticeable throughout), some mild brown sugar notes, a bit of hops, some caramel, a lot of dark fruit (plums, raisins, currants), and the vinous quality (and its barrel). An interesting flavor that grows on you. The dark fruits aren't quite as prevalent as you might think, but this doesn't matter. The flavor works.

F: A decent amount of carbonation with a warm, smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: Not a perfect barleywine, but definitely a solid one. Drinkable.

 

On-tap at Mugs Alehouse, Brooklyn, NY

A: The beer is clear reddish amber in color. It poured with a quarter finger high white head that died down, leaving a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate to strong aromas of currants are present in the nose.
T: The taste has flavors of cherries and currants with notes of plums.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This barleywine seems very fruity and doesn't have much of a heavy mouthfeel with warming from the alcohol.

Serving type: on-tap

 

 

 

On tap at Bear Naked Growler, Montpelier, Vermont.
The appearance was a rugged malty maroon/amber/brown color with a cap of a little white foamy head. Died off fairly quick to barely leave any lace.
The aroma seemed to mesh in the normal qualities of a barleywine (the toffee, tobacco, caramel, and grassiness) and then it dipped into the dark fruits, nice and sweet to thresh upon some brown sugar and sweet wood. Ended up bringing a cherry sweet to tart vinous quality hinging on some of the nice sour feels.
The flavor was moderately sweet wrapping in the previously mentioned aromas and letting the tart and sour qualities clip the end. Aftertaste leaned towards the barleywine qualities and seemed to kick the tartness and sourness further to the back.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fine sipping quality about it. Though the sourness and tartness wasn't distractible in this department, it was noticeable. Carbonation felt good. ABV seemed just a touch higher than what was projected, but I wasn't bothered by that.
Overall, it's a very nice barleywine, but with the sour and tart character coming through, it really made me second guess if this was an English or an American styled one. If anything, it's well worthy of coming back to.

Served at Meadhall in Cambridge, MA on February 17, 2018. This version clocked in at 10.5% abv.

Reddish brown color with a mild chill haze. Decent starting head but it settles quickly to rim bubbles and leaves no lasting lace on the glass.

Rich aroma of raisins and alcohol. Semisweet with a touch of sourness. I also get faint dry cardboard -- the only distraction.

The taste is closer to sour cherries with some candy sugar added. The alcohol is still there but not nearly as pronounced as the smell suggests. Long deep and darker malt finish blended with all of the aforementioned flavors, particularly the sour cherry. Complex and intriguing.

 

Had it on tap at George Keeley, NYC. Pours a brown and ruby red color with a thin layer of foam head. A ring of lace follows.
Aromas of nutty and toffee like English malt. This is accompanied by a tart aroma of raisins, plum and cherries. The tartness alerts you that this brew will be a bit different.
Sure enough, the taste has the elements of a tart/sour/funky barleywine. The nutty and toffee like English malt is certainly there. Surprisingly drinkable for a high ABV brew. More medium bodied than full, really soft carbonation little to no alcohol warmth. What sets this apart is the vinous and red wine type mouthfeel that feels tart. Flavors of raisins, prunes, cherries, currants, plum and red grape.
An interesting hybrid, however, I'm not sure I'm necessarily diggin the sour qualities. Feels more like a high ABV Flanders Red than a Barleywine.