Barleywine Connundrum

Lets see, I have had Thomas Hardy's Ale, Fuller's Golden Pride, and Young Old Nick out of bottles. I had Young's Old Nick on cask at the Toronado Barleywine Festival, and that was one impressive beer for its paltry 7.2% ABV.

The British versions are malty, the American Barleywines have much more hopping.

If anyone thinks an American Barleywine is a DIPA, do a side by side, there is much more malt in an American Barleywine.

 

Totally agree...you wouldn't think that it would be the best beer to age but it really does come alive...smoother is the right word...

 

Agreed - not all DIPAs are, but some are. For example Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree is pretty much a mega hopped barleywine - I mean, that thing has massive malt with a ton of hops. Founders Devil Dancer was the same way (for me at least) - side by side with Bigfoot I would think they are similar beers.

 

Maybe that is why I said DIPA and not Tripple IPA?

 

English styles are different for sure - check them out - you might like the style more than things like bigfoot!

 

Well better let Dark Horse know they are mis-labeling their beer

 

If one thinks that an American Barleywine and an Imperial IPA are virtually indistinguishable, then neither is good representative of it's particular style.

 

I think like all styles, the boundaries are blurred at the extremes - I agree bigfoot and pliny are not the same, but bigfoot and Founders devil dancer are getting pretty close

 

My favorite ____wine style beer would be Surly Eight ("oatwine"), followed by Founders Nemesis (really dark and almost roasty/sweet; 2010 I think, whatever the last one produced was...).

 

Bigfoot is my example of a "bad" BW. I love the stuff, but when I have to let it sit 3 years before it tastes like what it's supposed to be? And if the maltiest of ImpIPAs reminds you of a BW, that's not a "good" ImpIPA.

It comes down to stylistic expectations. Admittedly, I'm a pretty pedantic, so when I pop open a beer that the brewers call a BW, and I get a face full of hops, no matter how much I enjoy that beer, I'm going to think that it's a "bad" beer. The brewery has set itself up to fail, in my eyes.

 

well said.

for the OP:
American:
Pale Ale < IPA< Double IPA < Barleywine . Similar flavor profiles, just increase in ABV and flavor intensity each time.

English:
Pale Mild < Pale Ale < Strong Ale < Barleywine

 

I'm with you on this. Across American Double IPA's and Barleywines, there is a full spectrum of malt characteristics.

Some "barleywines" are all pale malt, and some "DIPA's" have a maltier profile. So it's really a toss up whether a brewer decided to label a 10% abv very hoppy beer as either a DIPA or an American style Barleywine.

I don't think there is much style difference between say DFH 120 vs. Stone Old Guardian, or Avery Maharaja vs. SN Bigfoot.

 

Fair point. I guess I am willing to be flexible on style boundaries, but I agree, I am usually pretty pissed if I buy a barleywine that is a hop bomb when I open it - that to me is down to labeling by the brewery. I agree, Bigfoot doesn't have any description on the label, so if you don't know (or you don't go to their website before buying, and who regularly does that...) you can be mislead by the 'barleywine' label.

I do wish that more brewers would put info like IBUs, and gravity readings on their labels so I can understand how heavily hopped or how much sweetness is left in a beer.

 

That is actually a neat way to think about it - I like it!

 

You crazy American style fanatics, with your mad classifications! Why can't a Barley wine be a 'hop bomb'? After all many of the early British 'barley wines' (before the Bass barley wine was named), were, I'm sure, hop bombs. For me any strong beer can be called a barley wine. In fact I might start calling all strong beers barley wines from now on (I mean all this fondly, by the way).

 

Fine then. From now on, I'm going to call all Barleywines "Session Ales".

And that kids, is how the great American-British War of 2015 began. We ignored history, and now we're doomed to repeat it. Invade England!!!

 

I would actually be fine with that, so long as the beer has an appropriate label with descriptors or something to tell me what to expect.

 

Based on your profile pic you are ready to go