Double Double
Paddock Wood Brewing Co.

750mL bottle at Volo, one of their "bin ends" selections. 2009 vintage.

Poured into a wine glass. Peach-amber in colour, slight haze, big bubbled head, but strong retention.

Nose really opens up as the brew warms, producing a lovely scent of peach, marmalade, raisin, booze, sugar and grain.

Nice strong ale, bready caramel and noticeable fruit flavors - raisin, peach, orange, candy lemon - with a dry finish and slight bitterness. Subtle notes of vanilla and grain.

Flavours burst on the tongue thanks to the vigorous carbonation, which keeps the brew from getting too cloying and thick.

Tasty brew to ponder over, lots of flavors to play around with.

 

Props to my BA pal in crime joemcgrath27 for the pick up on this one.

A - Pours a hazy orange colour, thumb of light bubbled fluffy head with solid retention and no real lacing.

S - Citrus and clove notes of a Belgian infused with leafy green hops and caramel malts of a barley wine.

T - The dark fruit flavours, caramel and leafy hops come through alongside some fragrant cloves, lemon citrus and yeast esters. Not your typical barley wine, but certainly flavourful. I suspect the alcohol on this one mellowed given that the 10.5% goes relatively well hidden.

M - Medium bodied ale that goes down smooth and finishes surprisingly wet.

O - Overall a tasty offering from Paddock Wood, boasting some bold flavours in a high octane format. Certainly worth picking up a bottle to try.

650ml bottle, a couple years old now, drinking this thanks to bobsy. Pours a golden hue with hints of orange and a finger or so of head. Smells of citrus, lychee, hints of soap, caramel, apricots.

Body is quite light for whatever style it is, soapy hopping gives a moderate bite, light green apples and lychee, lemons, caramel, apricot, nuttiness, light vanilla, apricots, marmalade, biscuity malt, hides the ABV well. It has the feel of not holding up overly well although it still has some good hop presence and I never had it fresh. Light body betrays what could be better.

Bought in Vancouver two months ago, but opened with Halcyondays at Beachwood BBQ yesterday. 2009 vintage in a 650 ml bottle, on to the beer:

Very foamy on the pour. As it clears, the beer features amber orange color with small bubbles running through. Good lacing is left around the glass. The aroma, here we go, very bland grain with a little sugary malt. I get apple skins too. I'm worried.

It tastes as weak as it smells. For a 10.5% ABV beer, you expect a barrage of flavor to smuther your palate, but what came in this bottle was a weakly flavored, and usually unapplealing at that. There's a little sugary malt, but it's mostly dull graininess that's boring. It's not even boozy. Was the right beer even put in this bottle? Mouthfeel is to too light as well per style.

No doubt about it, this was the worst barleywine I ever tasted. I walked out of Beachwood BBQ embarrased because of this.

22 oz. bottle, thanks to DoubleJ, 2009 edition, I like the Macbeth allusion,

A: Pours orange, lightly hazy with a gushing head. Lots of lace from said head.

S: Malty, some cidery green apples for sure - acetylaldehyde, but I enjoyed the smell more as it warmed up/as time went on.

T: Green apples and crystal malt are heavy. Definite booze notes. Low residual sugar.

M: Some booze, medium-bodied, a bit overcarbonated, fairly smooth.

D: Strong ale, barleywine, whatever you want to call it's pretty mediocre. I can drink it, but I don't really want to.

2009 vintage.

Interestingly, it's 10.5% and brewed for their SUMMER Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan.

Double Double, toil & trouble?

A: Copper with a generous light-tan head (for its weight), good ring of retention & lace.

S: Dark raisins, grassy, nectarine, peppery spice, marmalade, sponge toffee, treacle, biscuity malt.

T: Dark raisins, sponge toffee, biscuity malt, treacle, hints of nuts, vanilla and wood, good bitterness, alcohol is extremely well-hidden. Very complex & balanced, extremely well-crafted.

M: Well-attenuated, moderately full body doesn't have the residual sweetness you might expect from a big brew, nor does it have the alcohol heat. I'd definitely call it a Strong Ale (American or British?).

D: Incredibly drinkable for its weight (is it really that strong?).

Not a barley wine, but certainly one of the best Strong Ales I've ever tasted.

An all around great brew. I'm seriously impressed.

Finally got my hands on one of these. Thanks Doug. Bottle:

pours a cloudy amber-brown ale in the goblet with a puffy tan colored cap which lasts and laces the glass well.

Aroma is pure ambrosia: citrus-toffee-raisin bread dough over some spicey grassy tomes and some mustiness.

Rich buttery mouthfeel, ample malt spine.

Front side is rich in bready malts but instantly balanced by a pervasive resinous hop bite, mid palate there is wonderful complexity: toffee, raisins, citrus peel, oak,mint treacle, cherry tobbaco...excellent! Finish is wet and lengthy with the hops bittering out the citrus bready tones.

What a wonderfully warming and satisfying ale...excellent!

Bottle at Volo. Pours mahogoney with good looking white bubbly head. The smell is fruity yeasty. The taste is yeasty, fruity, with a light drinkable bitterness and a mild astringency, balanced by a plain sweetness. About average mouthfeel overall. Decently drinkable.

This beer really needs to warm up to let the nuances show up in the finish and the nose. It is really an American Strong Ale rather than a barleywine and the complexity shows up in subtle ways rather than in your face. Well crafted with some generous hops this beer tastes lower than the 10.5% ABV. I liked the flavours but wouldn't really cellar it in case I lost the hops.

From the bottle it poured a clear glazed copper with a thin white head.

The aroma was a bouquet of caramel, apricots, burned sugar and caramel. A little apple cider and toasty as well. Sweet and dry. Lots of caramel and residual sugars.

A leafy bite with very ripe fruits, predominantly peaches, apples and brown sugar. Very warming and brash with the alcohol content.
The mouthfeel was nice, but kind of film like and the alcohols could really bite the back of the mouth like a strong whiskey. Something that I can see balancing out over a year or so.

This was drinkable, but seemed like it needed more aging with the alcohol content. A pleasant sipper. I'll try again in a year and see how it ages. The idea of the double mash is a good one, though must add to the cost production and I would wonder what the actual yield % is at the end. It's great to see canadian breweries throw these styles into the mix

A fairly clear amber colour with a huge beige head that takes quite a while to fall (and keeps me from pouring as much as I'd like). Plenty of clumps of lacing stick around as it finally starts to settle.

Molasses and brown sugar immediately come to mind upon smelling the beer. A bit of a solvent like liquor smell to it, but not a harsh amount. Herbal hops in there as well. Decent aroma, though it would be a touch nicer without the solvent hints.

Very light in flavours for a beer so big. Very clean and balanced. Seems that hops come first in the taste, as citric notes dominate the front half of the mouth. A sort of toasted bread malt flavour follows, and caramel lingers in the finish. Booze is absent in the taste. I could go for some slightly bigger flavours, but nothing here is a turn off.

Light bodied, with quite low carbonation. Really not much to the mouthfeel, if we are calling this a barley wine then I would say it is too thin, but it works with the lighter flavours pretty well.

Aside from the aroma, one wouldn't be able to tell that this beer is so high in ABV. This means it goes down like a much smaller beer.

Worth checking out, but I'm not sure when I'd want this beer again. I just can't place it to an occasion or season even.

A - clear glowing orange, with a hint of red/pink, really nice colour, thin whisp of a white ring at the top of the glass, still manages to leave thick lacing

S - pretty low aroma to start, malt, brandied fruits, sweet cherry

T - tasty hop flavour, citrusy, grapefruit, slight floral, very clean, light biscuit malt, smooth bitterness to finish, lingers on the palate

M - light carbonation, but a med light body keeps things very drinkable and non-syrupy, creamy mouthfeel, finish is clean and snappy, leaving behind a nice dryness, alcohol is superbly hidden

D - incredible drinkability for a beer this size and this young, flavours don't overpower, and booze is completely hidden

Ok, this one threw me for a loop. All this talk about Shakespeare and english style mashing had me expecting a big heavy english ale. And the aroma is the weakest link, so at first I'm thinking "hoo boy, this is gonna be a tough one."

So I give it the old college try, and take a sip... good god... this is a super clean, slightly hoppy, american style strong ale! A very nice surprise indeed.

I call it a strong ale, because it isn't really hoppy enough to be a double IPA, nor is it "heavy" enough to be a barleywine. It's just a damn good ale, with great hop and malt character.

Brew this one again Steve!

650ml bottle poured into Unibroue glass nov7 2009

A clear amber with a big head that falls fast and leaves some lace

S apples at the point of rotting, that's all I smell is apples on the verge of being foul and maybe some caramel, perhaps a old caramel apple not quite rotten with a little booze

T a little better then the smell a little cherry and toffee and where is the booze is just beyond me it's nowhere too be found

M nice thick feel but no knife and fork required, fairly creamy but with little carbonation pretty much on par for the style

D for 10.5%alc it's dangerously drinkable, but I just can't get over the bad apple smell and taste. It reminds me of the apple orchards in the OK valley in BC around Halloween

I'm wondering what would happen to this one after a few years in a cellar because as it stands now I would rather drink other barley wines from western Canada

Pours what i would call a blood pudding red...rich red with a brown tinge. Hazy, not much head or lacing..but the color is killer.

Nice mix of rich fruits, malt and cirus hop.

Same goes for the taste...balanced nicely between the aforementioned 3 some. Booze level is not even remotely an issue here Hops tend to dominate the finish.

Smooth, full bodied, no alcohol bite @ all.

I'm a neophite when it comes to this style, but it was certainly drinkable.

Alright barleywine from Paddwock Wood. Fairly light colour with a nice white head. Malty smell with strong vinous hints. Plums and raisins in the background.

Sugar, raisins, and faint citrus hints on the taste. Nice carbonation. Not the best barleywine - almost a barleywine lite, but still enjoyable.

I chanced upon this bomber at my favourite wine shop when out to source some 2008 Okanagan releases. The beer guy there didn't really know what it was, and the label doesn't give any indication one way or another. 'Double Double' sounds more like a ubiquitous coffee reference in these here parts, but I'm usually game for any new Paddock Wood offering, so, sold was I. As 'Shakespeare in the Park' is currently playing in my burg, Paddock Wood's support of the equivalent in the Great Flat East is commendable. It's yet another indication of the apparent growing similarities in style, if not scope, of our two cities on the prairie.

This beer pours a hazy medium copper hue, with a few fingers of thick, creamy off-white head, that leaves chunky lace as it dissipates. It smells of citrus and grassy hops, with a mild caramel malt undertone, perhaps a testament to its freshness. Can't argue with the barleywine designation here, though I was kind of led to believe that this was to be a Belgian-style dubbel. The taste is sweet caramel malt, demerara sugar, citrus hops, and warming alcohol. The carbonation is moderate, the body a bit oily, and below average in weight for a barleywine, and it finishes mostly off-dry, the hops taking precedence over the receding malty body. The big ABV is fairly well hidden, only a mild overall warming is detectable.

My first, and obvious, inclination is to compare this to the local microbrewing concern's barleywine, and in doing so, the style differences become crystal clear. This has the hops/malt interplay of an American barleywine, but in a very tempered manner, so I can understand the English classification. The booze isn't really an issue in the taste profile, so aging would likely just bring this closer to the English style, as the hops fade away over time. A judicious foray into the style by our provincial neighbours.

Brewed to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, it's double mashed. Comes in a 650 ml brown bottle.

Pours out a hazed deep orange amber hue, thick tight creamy off-white head.

Aroma possesse toffee malt, brown sugar, citrus zest, light baking spice.

Sweet as heck is my first impression of the flavour. Tangy grains up front, sweet and slightly spicy middle, citrus finish, leafy herbal hops start to pop out in the aftertaste already.

Mouthfeel starts out on the thin side, smooth carbonation near the finish, although still quite light.

Perhaps some aging will bring it together a bit more, although I can't be too hard on it as it's a quirky brew which, according to the brewery's website, something like this hasn't been brewed this way for over a few centuries, therefore the palate gets a bit of culture shock. I definitely applaud the effort, and support theatre too although I prefer Christopher Marlowe....