Under the Cover of Night
Abomination Brewing Company

16oz can from @Roguer
Poured into a Reuben's then & now glass

O really nicely-done English barleywine, chocked full of pecans, dark fruits, dark sugars, pie crust, and hearty bready malt; great label art as well

Review date: 11.24.23
Can date: not captured

 

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours a murky brown with a little head. The nose is full of pecans and vanilla. Nice layers of toffee and raisins as well. Super smooth.

The taste is a bit odd. Getting pecans, but also some mint. That's the weird part. Caramel is there, along with bread, a hint of maple, bread, clove oil, vanilla, and plums. Interesting overall, but not necessarily something I would buy again.

 

 

 

Poured a strong iced tea color with just a little more carbonation. But 12.5% ABV generally doesn’t allow much excess carbonation.
Aroma was all but lost on my Covid affected nose.
The taste gave me a definite impression of pecan pie for the first couple swallows and then just barleywine and vanilla were left. No idea how that worked. Fortunately the barleywine aspect was pretty darn good.
The feel was fairly flat but not unpleasant, it kinda went with the style. Viscous and smooth I think I would call it.
OA, glad to try it, I wouldn’t turn it down if offered to me, but don’t think I would pay another $7.50 for it.

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark orange-red with a thin khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, pecan pie, vanilla, fresh toffee and raisins. Flavor is caramel malt, glazed pecans, vanilla, raisins, figs, faint bourbon and crème brulee; light, bright cherry and raisins in the finish, with an unusual raw vanilla note. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. One of the more unusual barleywines I've tasted. Lots of caramel/toffee flavor along with the expected pecan and vanilla. Smells cloyingly sweet, but the taste is actually rather dry. There is dry caramel and dark fruit to start, but the finish has estery fruit notes. Not a traditional English barleywine, but that's the closest style to compare it to. Kind of busy flavors. I'm guessing the wispy cherry notes in the finish are from the bourbon, otherwise I'm not tasting much of the barrel influence. Definitely interesting and drinkable, but unexpected.

 

Look: Light reddish brown. European-looking barleywine. Head quickly fades to a ring.

Smell: Pecan pie, vanilla, caramel and bourbon.

Taste: Surprisingly light, vanilla, caramel and pecan pie! Some light bitter hops on the back end of the flavor journey.

Feel: Light-feel, a little carbonation.

Overall: Easy to drink and interesting, although I like my barleywine to be even more complex and with even more weight in the feel.

Surprisingly light brown hue, rather clear. Good head production, all things considered (ABV, style), and OK retention.

Aroma is sweet and nutty. At first sniff, it's an almost indiscriminately sweet smell, but it quickly reveals strong notes of vanilla, pecan, and caramel on subsequent sniffs. Minor hints of chocolate, leather, and red grape round out the profile.

Quite a bit of cola on the palate; it's prune-forward, with more prune on the mid-sip. Pecan, toffee, vanilla, walnut; precious little caramel or toffee from the malt base. A bit of leather and wood. It's surprisingly limited in expression.

Remarkably easy drinking for the ABV; Barreled Souls is definitely showing their influence here.

This is a very good beer, but ultimately a bit disappointing. I had hoped for more. This is definitely a case where the sum is less than the total of the individual aspects.

Sampled blind

I can name this barleywine in 1 sip, it's gotta be Maris Goes Nuts. The first sip was far nuttier than any barleywine I've tried, it just has to be. I'll write my notes before the reveal though.

I get plenty of sweet toffee with hints of pears, vanilla, molasses, and raisin up front. The finish is almost all nuts, candied nuts. I won't try to hard to name them, maybe peanuts, walnuts? They are nicely roasted, maybe even salted a little? Not something for everyday, but I'd like to have it again sometime.

 

16oz can. Poured out a clear, dark burgundy color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left minimal lacing on the glass. It smelled of toffee, caramel, vanilla, pecan and bourbon. Sweet toffee, caramel and pecan flavor with vanilla, oak and bourbon flavors.