Hypnosis (Matured in Cognac Barrels)
Block 15 Brewing - Southtown Tap Room

 

Taster at de Garde. Dark amber pour, small beige head. Cognac is strong in the nose and taste. Solid barleywine lies underneath, sweet, brown sugar blending with the burnt notes of the cognac. Confusing at first, but works quite well.

 

2022 edition. 12.5%.

Pour is a lovely russet colour. Crisp and clear. A little swell of khaki head that dissipates leaving very little behind. No lacing.

Nose is rich and sweet with elements of raisin and leather and tobacco. Maybe a poached pear kind of thing in there. A bit of caramel.

Flavour is a bit blunter and boozier than I'd anticipated. I get less of the sweetlighter notes and more of the leather and tobacco. It's more prune than raisin here, that curls up along the tongue into an earthy bitter finish. Dryer through the middle than expected.

Sleep training the baby is tough. This helps ease it a bit.

2021-07-22
500ml bottle served in a snulip. Bottled in November 2020. No idea where I got this bottle. My bottle says it's 12.5% abv (the listing at the time of this rating says 11%).

Pours a deep mahogany, clear, with a smallish very pale head that collapses to a thick and clumpy ring with a few wisps spanning the surface. Smell is dates and raisins and figs, caramel and toffee, maybe some molasses.

Taste is boozy, bitter in a woody/fruit-skin kind of way, retains that dry dark fruit character, caramel and toffee are almost lost in the bitterness, more of a light roast coffee flavor coming out of it.

Mouthfeel is medium, maybe leaning a bit toward thin. Overall, very nice barleywine.

 

On tap at the imperial bottle shop today.

The beer pours a brownish amber color with great head retention and considerable lacing. The nose is intriguing, as I pick up fig, baked apple, caramel, vanilla and light butter toffee. There's some noticeable underlying cognac as well. The flavor profile isn't quite as complex, and is dominated by the vanilla and caramel in this fairly sweet beer. Moutheel is medium bodied to full, and the beer has a long, fairly soft, sweet finish. Alcohol is very well integrated into the flavor profile, with very little noticeable heat on the finish. So I guess I would describe drinkability as pretty good (though it's hard to imagine drinking more than the 6 ounce glass I'm currently enjoying).

A nice BW from B15. It's nothing spectacular or mindblowing, but is a tasty and not too boozy BW.

Had on tap while socially distant outside at Special Brews Lynnwood, WA

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a medium reddish orange with a fine, one finger khaki head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of dry caramel malt, raisins, dried plums and mild orange. Flavor follows, with dark caramel malt, plums, dark berries, raisins and cognac; finish reveals oaky vinous character from the cognac. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Tastes very much as expected for an English style barleywine aged in cognac barrels. The cognac profile is distinct and strong, but the base barleywine has great fruity malt flavors to support it. There is also a woody, red wine note in the finish, similar to cognac. I think bourbon and fortified wines are my favorite treatment for barleywines, but this was nice for a change. Well brewed and interesting as expected from Block 15. I'm curious about the base barleywine now and hope to see it some day.

 

 

2018 vintage i believe, listed at 10.25% abv, wow! this is every bit of that, sweet and strong and boozy and rich, a sipper, and a beer i really only need a small pour of. even with some age on it, this is fiercely hot, which to me is exacerbated by all the residual sugar in this. im making it sound bad, its not bad, its awesome, its just a lot to take in, and its not as complex as many big barleywine types on the grain side, it seems almost simple there, toffee, english crystal, a bit of honey. its the barrel that seems to lend the complexity to the beer, lots of vanilla, oak tannins, a toasted layer, and the cognac, which is anything but subtle here, this definitely is in a freshly juicy barrel and well aged! the beer looks like butterscotch in the glass, and has some decent head for what it is. i like the little bit of carbonation in here pushing it along, its a nice touch and keeps this from drinking like cement. some whiskey character along with the cognac too, makes me thirsty for the bourbon barrel edition of this. enormous beer overall, the quality level of all the beers these guys make is amazing, and it was a treat to find this on tap. i always look forward to their stuff and am never disappointed. excellent winter sipper here, but a little is a lot, so pace yourself!

edit: 2020 vintage even bigger, 12.5% abv on the label, even more alcohol, rich grain sweetness, and cognac depth than before, cherries and citrus now, an almost old fashioned cocktail note to it, warms up downright hot, but its highly refined and frankly better than i remember it being from the previously reviewed vintage. need to get one of these to age a few years, some alcohol mellowing and even a little oxidation would work well here. heck of a night cap!

Dark brown appearance with a white head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a slightly sweet basic barleywine. Taste is also a basic barleywine that is slightly thinner that I like in a barleywine.

A rather different barleywine here, with some considerably unusual notes from the cognac barrels. Nice looking; darkish amber and nearly perfectly clear. Pretty typical, and very pleasant, barleywine nose with rich caramel and candied fruit. Then the taste becomes something really novel. It begins with nice normal honey-toned malts but very soon the sour boozy notes of the barrels takes over. It’s interesting, but notreally my thing - I think that the sweeter tones of bourbon barrels work better here. Feel is excellent, as expected. I’d like to like this one more, but the sour side is a bit much for me.

 

What a gorgeous beer. Held to light, a stunning burnt orange glow borders crimson, with touches of garnet and hazelnut. Above, once a light tanned foam, but is soon forgotten as it descends to the depths below.

Holy mother of shit, this smells amazing. As advertised, plum, raisin, and orange marmalade are so apparent. A touch of booze, a hint of barrel, and a deep, dark berry influence in the vein of raspberry or boysenberry. Collectively, I would be happy to just smell this beer and never take a sip.

Psych!!!

Wow. Still dark fruit heavy, almost sweet wine like, but nuances of caramel, vanilla, and spiced breakfast pastries take this to another level. Almost like a cherry and berry pie with the filling being quickly flambéed in that sweet, syrupy, and boozy Cognac.

A tad light on the tongue, but still like the finest, cleanest syrup one can buy. A slight sap, I mean. Sweet, first and foremost, with a boozy warmth. There is the slightest bit of a bittering finish, but more in the shape of an oak stripping tannin rather than a hop or char influence, and just a touch of nostril flaring spice. Small sips encouraged, perhaps demanded.

No question, one of the best Barleywines I've ever had. Truly hoping it's not too late to snag a few more. Lesson be learned, if it says Block 15, buy it. Twice. Thrice even.

Cheers.