Accessible Barleywines

Buy a case and put a sixpack in the fridge, and 3 away, one each for the next three years. Buy another case each year and in a couple years you'll be able to do verticals with ease and drink it with whatever amount of age on if you like. Once you've determined how much age is your preference, put away extra for that amount of age, and less for other lengths of time.

variant: 4 bottles per year instead of 6, and you have up to 5 years old instead of up to 3 years.

variant 2: 8 bottles per year by getting 2 cases. Yes, aging beer requires an investment, but in my experience it's a very worthwhile one.

 

You should be able to get Firestone Walker Sucaba in NV. In my opinion, it doesn't get better than that. Particularly this year.

 

If you liked that I'd go the other way and bask in the hops. Old Ruffian from Great Divide is fantastic stuff

 

I got a bottle of Deschutes Mirror Mirror for my birthday last year. I decided to cellar it until my birthday this year. That's next month. I'll let you know

 

Dogfish Head Olde School is so damn good.

 

Two very different and very good barley wines are Insanity and Maharaja.

 

I actually prefer Uinta Anniversary to Bigfoot. And to @torr99 , seeing as how it's a Utah brew and you live in NV, I'd bet you could snag that thing pretty easily (one would think....)

Word of warning though. I found out that Anniversary DOES NOT age well. Ages mighty poorly if I must say so myself. Don't worry about putting one back, just down those things as soon as you have a chance to safely do so!

 

He said "less hoppy". I'm pretty sure a triple IPA is not the answer.

 

Actually, in late April it would be hard to get this beer. Unless NV gets way more of it than VA.

 

Maharaja is a DIPA.

 

Yes but @Dr_Bahmbay13 brought it in to the category and this beer is a good example.

edit -as opposed to odells peach tree shaker another DIpa over10% which is not a good example.

 

Have to agree with this. Hard-to-find, but with a year or more age on it, fantastic! Even this year's is drinking mighty nice at about 6 months of age..

 

Old Horizontal. i find aging 2 to 4 years tones down the hops without associated off-flavors.

i like 'em malty though. JW Lees is my standard.

 

It's still relatively plentiful in CA.

 

The most accessible English Barleywines, IMO, are J.W. Lees and Anchor Old Foghorn. Assuming J.W. Lees is distributed in your area, both are available year-round and are essentially textbook versions of the style. Some offbeat choices might include Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot, Harpoon Bronze King/Leviathan (it was retired and brought back under a different name), and Flying Dog Horn Dog.

As for American Barleywines, there are three that top my list: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Great Divide Old Ruffian, and Bell's Third Coast Old Ale. For whatever reason, this year's Third Coast Old Ale is extremely malty (mind you, we're now six months out from its last bottling), but it has strong flavors of toffee and brown sugar with a slight pine finish. It's awfully close to an English Barleywine. Old Ruffian is the complete opposite--an extremely hopped barleywine. And I'd place Bigfoot somewhere between these two. There have been some good choices mentioned, but I'd add Clown Shoes Crunkle Sam to those three.

OP, I'd also recommend Old Ales if you're into the maltier side of things. The "big three" (IMHO) craft Old Ales--North Coast Old Stock Ale, Great Divide Hibernation, and Founder's Old Curmudgeon--could pass for barleywines. Beyond these, Fullers Vintage Ale and Theakston Old Peculiar are worth a try.

I could throw out a few barrel-aged barleywines, but somehow, I think you ought to try plain ol' barleywines.

 

But not readily accessible

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/152/

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/19/

Here's the list for both syles. Hope it helps

 

Avery Samael's (English-style Barleywine)
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30/24357/

Uinta Cockeyed Cooper (American-style Barleywine)
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1416/58868/

Southern Tier Oak-Aged Backburner (American-style Barleywine)
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/78008/

 

If you want something less hoppy, stick to English-style Barleywines and some barrel-aged American-styles.