Santa's Woody
Laurelwood Brewing Co.
- From:
- Laurelwood Brewing Co.
- Oregon, United States
- Style:
- American Barleywine
- ABV:
- 10.5%
- Score:
- 90
- Avg:
- 4.08 | pDev: 10.29%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 7
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Dec 25, 2017
- Added:
- Dec 29, 2013
- Wants:
- 1
- Gots:
- 4
SCORE
90
Outstanding
90
Outstanding
Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine.
The 2016 version of our barleywine was made to do two things: blend well with the 2015 barrel aged barleywine, and go into bourbon/ whiskey barrels for next year’s Santa’s Woody. The 2015 barleywine has been aged for one year in bourbon barrels and has lots of rich bourbon barrel character. Both the 2015 and 2016 barleywine’s were boiled for around 5 hours! The long boil gives this beer excellent flavor and color from the kettle caramelization that occurs during the long boil. It is also very high in alcohol but not overly sweet or bitter. The 2016 barleywine holds up great on its own, but is an excellent complement as the second half of this year’s Santa’s Woody Barleywine. We found a blend that we loved that balanced the freshness of the 2016 with the rich bourbon barrel character of the 2015 and that is this year’s Santa’s Woody. Enjoy with family and friends!
Malts: Marris Otter (2015), 2-Row (2016)
Hops: Organic Cascade (2015), Nuggets (2016)
The 2016 version of our barleywine was made to do two things: blend well with the 2015 barrel aged barleywine, and go into bourbon/ whiskey barrels for next year’s Santa’s Woody. The 2015 barleywine has been aged for one year in bourbon barrels and has lots of rich bourbon barrel character. Both the 2015 and 2016 barleywine’s were boiled for around 5 hours! The long boil gives this beer excellent flavor and color from the kettle caramelization that occurs during the long boil. It is also very high in alcohol but not overly sweet or bitter. The 2016 barleywine holds up great on its own, but is an excellent complement as the second half of this year’s Santa’s Woody Barleywine. We found a blend that we loved that balanced the freshness of the 2016 with the rich bourbon barrel character of the 2015 and that is this year’s Santa’s Woody. Enjoy with family and friends!
Malts: Marris Otter (2015), 2-Row (2016)
Hops: Organic Cascade (2015), Nuggets (2016)
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by Lingenbrau from Oregon
4.04/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.04/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
2017 Vintage from a bottle.
Santa's Woody is not what you'd expect at all. No sign of skin tone in this beautiful and clean mahogany ale. A thin tan ring of foam disappears into nothing, yet it's right and beautiful.
Brown sugar and fig lay the foundation to mild notes of oak, bourbon, and caramel. Somehow, I am reminded of an apple fritter with its hints of tart fruit and spices.
The flavor transcends those aromas. Fig and sweet molasses give the impression of sticky figgy pudding. Caramel, cinnamon, and oak finish it off with a surprising lack of bourbon at all.
Smooth, silky, rich, boozy, full. It's a sipper. It clings to the mouth and tongue sip after sip. It's impressively sweet, but welcomed.
I'd have to say that Santa's Woody is no where near the best barleywine I've had, but it's still quite pleasant. Delicious in fact. I will definitely revisit this happily year after year, and I'd suggest you'd do the same given the opportunity. Cheers, and Merry Christmas!
Dec 25, 2017Santa's Woody is not what you'd expect at all. No sign of skin tone in this beautiful and clean mahogany ale. A thin tan ring of foam disappears into nothing, yet it's right and beautiful.
Brown sugar and fig lay the foundation to mild notes of oak, bourbon, and caramel. Somehow, I am reminded of an apple fritter with its hints of tart fruit and spices.
The flavor transcends those aromas. Fig and sweet molasses give the impression of sticky figgy pudding. Caramel, cinnamon, and oak finish it off with a surprising lack of bourbon at all.
Smooth, silky, rich, boozy, full. It's a sipper. It clings to the mouth and tongue sip after sip. It's impressively sweet, but welcomed.
I'd have to say that Santa's Woody is no where near the best barleywine I've had, but it's still quite pleasant. Delicious in fact. I will definitely revisit this happily year after year, and I'd suggest you'd do the same given the opportunity. Cheers, and Merry Christmas!
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington
3.8/5 rDev -6.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.8/5 rDev -6.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
This is the 2017 edition. Color is a dark amber with just faint swirls of foam in the chalice. Pleasant aroma of Bourbon and roasted barley wafting on the fumes. Mouthfeel is hot and a little prickly with carbonation. Then it kind of melts in your mouth to an alcoholic caramel taste with a hoppy afterburn.
Sweet and on the verge of candy-like, but the herbal hops add a different twist. Some fruitcake and rum. As boozy as it gets. Rather bitter aftertaste that cuts through the sugar nicely. From the big bottle purchased at Haggen Market in Burlington, Wash.
Aug 06, 2017Sweet and on the verge of candy-like, but the herbal hops add a different twist. Some fruitcake and rum. As boozy as it gets. Rather bitter aftertaste that cuts through the sugar nicely. From the big bottle purchased at Haggen Market in Burlington, Wash.
Reviewed by LiquidAmber from Washington
4.26/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.26/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a medium to dark red-orange amber with a thin light tan head that dissipates to tiny patches, leaving light lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, orange citrus, raisins, dates and vanilla, lightly woody. Flavor is sweet caramel malt, toffee, plums, raisins, orange zest, light vanilla and oak; finishes with light grassy hops and wood. Great heavy body with good creaminess, but light carbonation. Not very complex and with very little bourbon influence, but great dark fruit, oaky vanilla barrel character and a pleasant touch of hop bitterness in the finish. The body is thick enough that it feels/tastes quite sweet at first, but the fruit and barrel flavors soon take over into a quite satisfying barleywine finish with a bit of hops. A nice end of the year barleywine.
Dec 27, 2016
Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia
4.24/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.24/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
On tap at brewery:
A nice vanilla leaning barrel aged barleywine.
Pretty clear looking, though a deep rusty amber color shades the light that gets through. Rusty tan head provides an average amount of spotty lacing.
Nose is a light wine and sweet caramel malt base with a little vanilla and barrel scents in the mix.
Taste is a tad disjointed when the beer is cold, with the aging being separated from the beer. The beer blends with the barrel nicely as the beer warms, caramel and vanilla cone together nicely. Wood notes are still present in the background.
A nice beer with a medium heft that allows smaller sips to be enjoyed with the light bite the alcohol adds.
Dec 23, 2016A nice vanilla leaning barrel aged barleywine.
Pretty clear looking, though a deep rusty amber color shades the light that gets through. Rusty tan head provides an average amount of spotty lacing.
Nose is a light wine and sweet caramel malt base with a little vanilla and barrel scents in the mix.
Taste is a tad disjointed when the beer is cold, with the aging being separated from the beer. The beer blends with the barrel nicely as the beer warms, caramel and vanilla cone together nicely. Wood notes are still present in the background.
A nice beer with a medium heft that allows smaller sips to be enjoyed with the light bite the alcohol adds.
Reviewed by bhyndthebottle from Oregon
4.23/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
4.23/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
Nice bourbon barrel smell, but otherwise just a normal barley wine with good carbonation. I would recommend this except for the price. Over $22 for a 750 is too much for this beer.
Jan 20, 2016Reviewed by IdrinkBeerinCollege from Oregon
4.56/5 rDev +11.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.56/5 rDev +11.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
This was an exceptional beer! I work at a taphouse and we got these in stock. Bought one. Opened on Christmas Eve, Dec 24th 2015. Pours a deep luscious whiskey color, with a slight quickly evaporating head. Smells of bourbon and malt, the bourbon barrel aging extremely obvious. Tastes of sweet malt, bourbon, candy, and winter. Thick, heavy, warming. In all honesty this was consumed after already having several other delicious beers. Apologies if the review wasnt highly technical and beersnobbish. It was great. Awesome to share for the holidays and sure made a splash with those that tried it.
Dec 25, 2015
Rated by BBThunderbolt from Kiribati
3.21/5 rDev -21.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
3.21/5 rDev -21.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
2014 vintage of this beer, on tap at the recent Barleyswine fest at the Copper Hog, Bellingham,WA.
Mar 04, 2015Rated by everythingiszen from Virginia
4.68/5 rDev +14.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
4.68/5 rDev +14.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
Medium bodied and smooth. Solid but not overwhelming. Excellent.
Dec 29, 2014
Reviewed by MadeInOregon from California
4.92/5 rDev +20.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
4.92/5 rDev +20.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
1 liter flip-top wax-tipped bottle scored from Belmont Station.
An absolutely superb barleywine and perfectly executed bourbon'ed beer. Well done Laurelwood!
Great body, color, smell, flavor and oh-so-smooth. Paired well with chicken soup and solid as a dessert as well. Merry Christmas to me!
Dec 29, 2013An absolutely superb barleywine and perfectly executed bourbon'ed beer. Well done Laurelwood!
Great body, color, smell, flavor and oh-so-smooth. Paired well with chicken soup and solid as a dessert as well. Merry Christmas to me!
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