Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Barleywine - Iced
Central Waters Brewing Co.

Appearance: Clear dark ruby, small head that fizzes out.

Smell: Strong booze, wood, caramel.

taste: Sweet, then the booze comes on strong. Big wood note mixed with booze. Doesn’t feel super heavy but just super boozy. Finishes with alcohol and some caramel remnants.

Overall: Curious to try this iced bourbon barrel barleywine. Really hits hard with the alcohol, the base beer and even the barrel struggle to balance out the enhanced alcohol from the ice process. Really seems to bring out the wood note as well, not vanilla, more straight toasted wood.

 

 

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a nice brown with basically no head. Bubbles throughout. The nose is definitely comes across as hot. Alcohol, toffee, ripe plum, a hint of pine, a slight earthy smell, and pancake mix.

The taste is really nice, although the alcohol punch is a bit much for me. Almost a fusel alcohol or solvent note. Makes it difficult to enjoy the rest of the beer. I can tell there are really nice notes of stone fruit and toffee, but they are hidden behind the mask of alcohol.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slightly harsh solvent aftertaste.

Update with 2025 version: The nose is very different. I'm getting a big nutty note right away. Vanilla ice cream, bourbon, and caramel as well. The taste is still really boozy. The alcohol punch is definitely strong on this one! Compared to the last version, this does seem more balanced. More toffee and raisin notes come through this time.

Purchased at the brewery. Like all of Central Waters BA beers - very, very good. Little head when poured but definitely carbonated. Nice ruddy color. Clear. Nose is treacle with bourbon; almost port-like. Taste is EtOH but not in your face. Malty, nice hop bitterness. Well-made.

Well this one is not shy, abrasive almost, but in a really fun way. Sharp, biting caramel and intense chocolate up front give way to a hot finish of strong, woody vanilla and low rent cask strength whiskey. There are some subtleties around the edges, hints of raisin and charred nuts. Overall this is just too hot to love but I'm glad I tried it and I did enjoy it.

2023 version

 

Sweet candied brown sugar, caramel-toffee covered raisins, and a subtle vanilla bourbon barrel nose on this one! Really nice aromatics here! Taste follows sort of with a caramel malty, bourbon boozy, and prominent hoppy bitter finish. As it warms, the hoppy bitterness becomes almost medicinal on the backend...totally interferes and disallows full enjoyment of the sweet caramel notes upfront. Aromatics>>>>Taste here by a long shot. I guess I needed this one one to fully convince me that American Barleywines are not my jam.

 

 

Pours a garnet-brown color with a thin tan head that doesn’t last super long, but longer than other BiL in this series before settling into a wisp and crown.

Burnt caramel, vanilla and light leather in the nose. There’s a touch of raisin, but it’s less fruity than others. Just a hint of earthy hops.

Caramel, vanilla, cherry cough syrup, strong wood, herbaceousness and alcohol in the taste. By far the strongest lingering bitterness of any of them. Super earthy and borderline pill-like, tempered by the caramel sweetness.

Nice, relatively creamy feel, but with a tad too much carbonation.

This one is definitely a bitter bomb, and it clashes a bit with the caramel and vanilla to my taste.

 

 

 

 

 

16oz can at a share.Dark brown pour, opaque, no head to speak of. Aroma comes in strong and boozy, malty, leathery, tobacco and molasses. Taste is thick and malty, sweet and boozy. Dark pit fruit notes, raisins, woody. A bit heavier than the others.

 

After a glass at the brewery in February – a fairly nice day at that out on the patio – we liberated a few 16 oz. cans for the home front. Much excitement.

Held up to the light this appears the deepest, purest red in North America (except perhaps Nicole Kidman’s hair at her best – I bet it smells nice too). The smell is a snoot full of bourbon, caramel, and booze. And a lot of every one.

Bourbon Barrel Barleywine – Iced is a 5.5 on the 1-5 scale. The caramel is fast-whipped into a crème brulee of Everclear, maple sugar, & sharp cherry. Mid-palate the booze morphs into strong bourbon and I’d swear this one is 20% ABV plus. Sharp, searing oak soaked in brown sugar & spices on the finish with…more booze. I could drink this until I was incoherent. More incoherent. Wouldn’t take a lot.

Tickle my testes or be handed another can of this? Make it two & it’s a done deal. An elite beer that could stand up to the best barleywines of our times. Stellar.

This one pours a fairly dark brown color, a hair darker than a typical barleywine, with a small head and not much lacing.

This smells like candied dark fruit, sweet caramel, a huge hit of spicy oak character, char, brown sugar, maple, vanilla, and chocolate.

The 3 year version was great - this is somehow even better. The concentrated nature of this one lends a slightly sweeter touch - but it doesn't really approach being syrupy, luckily. There's still a ton of barrel here, with oak, tobacco, leather, and bourbon, and a general spicy character. There's more dark fruit than typical, as well.

This is medium bodied, and surprisingly not really that boozy. It's definitely got a slight heat to it, but it could have been way boozier, considering the style and technique used to make this.

Any fan of barleywine would find themselves enjoying this one.