Don't like bitter beers. Suggest a beer.

Yeah, but based on the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout I think he can handle it.

 

No you're not crazy but your information is incomplete. You need information about both hops and brewing.

English Barleywine is a style that originated in England and which is made both there and here in the US (e.g., Weyerbacher BI, which is only distributed regionally). American Barleywine is a version of a Barlywine that originated in the US (an is a style now). The big difference is in the hops used, not where it is physically brewed. English Barleywine as a style uses varieties of hops grown in the England and the UK which have certain charactrisitic flavors. American Barleywine uses American hops which have different flavor characteristics than the English hops. Hence Barleywines brewed mostly with English hops are English Barleywines (regardless of where they are brewed) and Barleywines brewed mostly with native American hops are American Barleywines (regardless of where they are brewed0. So we can have an American Barleywine brewed in the UK or Belgium and an English Barleywine brewed in Englaind, the US or Belgium.

 

Seems like Blithering Idiot is one of his favorites.

 

So it seems. But neither you nor I knew that when making the first round of suggestions. So I agree he could move on to Insanity and would suggest he get both and do a side by side.

 

Didn't come here to be a dick, but too many people don't read the posts thoroughly. OP said "I also don't like beers that are aged in wood barrels." Granted, he said that he has had Palo Santo, but don't throw out a bunch of BA beers. Defiantly do Left Hand Milk Stout (regualar or Nitro) @RichardMNixon mentioned Old Chub. This is a good, readily available scotch ale, which is a style you may want to exlore. Very malty and non bitter. I would also recommend Skull Splitter, and Bellhaven in that style. I agree with @TongoRad that you may enjoy some porters since you liked Brooklyn Black Chocolate. It is probably the bitterness from the hops vs. the roasted coffee beans that you don't care for at this point. Founder's Porter is very smooth and in the same area code as BBC. Yuengling Porter, Boulder Shake Chocolate Porter, and Breckenridge Vanilla Porter are good "entry" level ones. I will throw out Ayinger Doppelbock, Blithering Idiot, Rogue Chocolate Stout, or most Samuel Smith's beers as other options.

 

I, too, love Weyerbacher's tripel.

I'm trying to think of other tripels that are sweet but all I can come up with are very dry ones. @WesMantooth has come up with a very good list but I don't see any belgians.

If you like sweet-tasting belgian ales, I'd recommend St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and Trappistes Rochefort 10 (the latter is kind of expensive, though), which are both quads.

Ah, now I remember another good sweet tripel. La fin du monde. It's cheap, too.

For dubbels try either Ommegang's of Chimay's. They're both good.

 

It's aged in this giant tank made from 'sacred' palo santo wood they harvested in South America.


Definitely distinct from more typical bourbon-barrel beers though.

 

Palo Santo is aged in huge wooden tanks made of Palo Santo wood. The tanks have never been used for anything else.

Bourbon Barrels are made of Oak and are used only once for Bourbon. Brewers have found that some beer styles benefit from aging in used Bourbon Barrels because they pick up some of the flavors of the oak and the Bourbon flavors (which partly come from the barrels as well). Some of the beers they use may have lots of hop or they may not. So what you may not like is the hops, the oak, the Bourbon, or the base beer. If you know you don't like Bourbon that may be it. There are also beers aged in barrels once used for wine or for still other beverages.

But liking Palo Santo does mean you like at least one beer aged in wood. :-)

 

What did you end up buying ?

 

If you want to just try a DIPA, I might recommend Firestone Walker Double Jack or Great Lakes Chillwave. Although they both have a delightfully tropical hop profile, they lack a lot of the bitterness that can be off-putting to people who don't like hoppy beers. (Double Jack was the first D/IPA I ever really liked, and Chillwave reminds me a lot of it.)

You're in for a treat whatever you get, though, enjoy!