Barleywine style tasting March 4th

Where? I LOVE it but it's been discontinued a few ears ago.

 

Dang dude. I had no clue. I've passed on the Barrel Aged version on close to a year's worth of bottle shop visits. I don't see the four packs to often, so when I saw it, I couldn't pass it up. If I find any more, I'll give you a shout!

 

No worries. I just found it funny as I have that beer sitting in my fridge since I got it in an extra in a trade. Glad to hear it's pretty good.

I've found some NE IPAs give me strange burps - almost like I'm belching up flour. I'll sip and try to find that yeasty feel tomorrow. Cheers!

P.S. Go for that barleywine. Not that I'm going to stop you

 

Interesting. I recall reading several posts that the BA Old Ruffian was one of the worst beers of several Beer Advocate member's drinking careers. The bottle shop I frequent liquidated their stock, and I was too afraid to buy-in. Funny that Great Divide would discontinue the beer that has somewhat of a following. I suppose with all the Hype of IPAs and Stouts, it would make sense for a brewery to focus on those strictly in a business sense. While I can't say I enjoyed Old Ruffian, it will feel like a hit has been taken to the annual barleywine availability calendar without Old Ruffian being available.

 

Got out of work at a pretty decent time tonight, managed to get home in time to catch the last UFC 209 prelim fight. Settling in with the main card and Bigfoot 2016, bottled 12/4/15.

I was slightly nervous coming into this one cause I've heard stories of the high bitterness but it's not to bad in that department. Nice pine, little citrus on the nose and the back of the tongue. Middle is rounded out with date/fig notes. Alcohol is there, especially as it warms, but it's a pleasant warming and not distracting or overwhelming.

Really nice overall. I'll definitely have to try and grab some more of these in the future and see how they change with even more time.

 

I didn't want to be the first, but I'll put mine out there as well. Batch #4 Maris Otter partial mash barley wine

This was my first big beer and I learned a lot. It's too dry from the champagne yeast (don't ask), but the taste, body and overall are good enough for me.

 

I hate that I may have given you a preconceived idea of what to look for in that beer instead of just experiencing it yourself.

 

It's all just name games for legal reasons. The problem is/was that a "barley wine" sounds like a type of "wine." When Anchor wanted to produce a barley wine in America, there was some concern. Combining the two words into one (barleywine) was one step taken. The other step was adding "barleywine-style ale" to it as well. It's all just an effort to reduce the association and/or confusion with wine. This isn't as much of an issue today. No matter how people like to spell it, the name of the category is "barley wine."

 

To be blunt: I've sipped on three barleywines today. Whenever I get to that beer (seriously, I don't know the name of that beer sober or not, I save that for when I pour the beer and snap a photo) I'll approach it as a new to me IPA - which is exactly what it is. I know I'm excited for it, as I've seen several photos of it here on BA in my limited browsing through threads. I also know it's an IPA and in the NE IPA style. I always strive to approach the latter with the utmost caution as I want to provide an honest and thorough review.

With how many beers I have ready, it may be another day or two before I even get to that can. So no worries what so ever. I'm just glad to have some more participation in another BA tasting thread. Cheers.

 

I think barrel aged Old Ruffian is being discontinued as well... it's just that they're letting it live for one year longer than the regular beer.

 

Well, why not?

I cracked one of these the day (night?) we received it at the store way back when and I remember that I really liked it. But, it's 15% and I never rated it, much less reviewed it.



4.21/5 rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Moderate pour yields a 3/4 inch slightly off white head over a medium amber / mahogany body with some nice lacing. Nose of raisins, alcohol, and a little bit of hops that are still present after more than 4 and a half years in the bottle. As it warms other aromas come out; bourbon soaked dark fruit and fruit cake. Taste follows with a malt sweetness and a bit of sweetness from the maple/bourbon barrel part of the blend. As it warms the flavors change as well, with some caramel, molasses, and brown sugar flavor coming out after a while and there is also a little spice thing going on as well. Oh, the booziness hasn't changed at all! Ha! Feel is almost syrup-like, with not quite medium carbonation. Wow! Overall, I'm glad I held onto a couple of these.

 

I really loved that beer. Currently, I only have three big format beers aging in the basement: Archibald, Our Finest Regards, and Fuller's Vintage.

 

Bad idea ensues all because of @THSdrummer


A: small white creamy looking head sets a top a beautiful Amber caramel body with decent clarity.

S: tons of vanilla, toffee, burnt sugars, oak, figs, raisins, bourbon. The smells Melt together in a symphony of layered nuance.

T: wow the vanilla is in your face, and has some light astringent bitterness from it. Mid palate it develops the burnt sugar, toffee, caramel, figs, raisins, and bourbon. Although, the vanilla is very prevalent throughout and finishes with that vanilla extract astringency.

M: Not as sticky or syrupy as I like my barleywines it's a tad thin and the carbonation is a tad prickly.

O: Not to make this sound like it's a bad beer but I've had regular mash and the vanilla really doesn't add much to it because it had nice notes of vanilla to begin with. This is still amazing and hides the 13.3% well, but added with the prickly carbonation and the overwhelming vanilla it is just ok.

 

@SomethingClever just don't let that large format text your ex! And if it does, remember, a smaller format wouldn't have put you in this situation

Cheers. Thanks for sharing some notes with us. The Bruery just started getting distributed here, but I haven't seen this yet. I'm hoping one of the stores I frequent gets a random box.

 

I think the story that Lagunitas tells about the origin of Brown Shugga is that they botched a brewing of Olde Gnarlywine and decided to put brown sugar into the mix in an attempt to salvage the beer. I just checked the beers on the Lagunitas site to see if there was a more detailed story about it, but what I noticed instead is that Olde Gnarlywine wasn't in their current lineup (but a new Scotch ale should be coming out now).

 

I'm in Ocean County NJ. It's the new packaging too they revamped their labels. It came out around January I think. It's still out there.