Barleywine Tasting (Jan 29-31) Planning & Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'The Bar' started by SierraNevallagash, Jan 16, 2021.

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  1. SierraNevallagash

    SierraNevallagash Initiate (0) Sep 23, 2018 Maine
    Trader

    Hey everybody,

    As some of you already know, our next BeerAdvocate tasting will be from the 29th through the 31st of this month, and the theme is barleywine!

    Originally, my plan was to push this tasting back a week, however, after hearing from a few people, it seems that the Extreme Beer Fest event will pose too much conflict, so we're going to have this a week earlier to allow as many people to participate as possible.

    The purpose of this thread is to provide an open space for anyone and everyone to plan for the tasting, ask questions, discuss details, talk beer styles, and just get a feel for everything before the party starts.

    What Beer To Bring: While barleywine is the style highlight for this tasting, I want this to also extend to that same family of styles. In addition to barleywine, this means wheatwine, ryewine, and ricewine.

    Other than that, there are very little guidelines for what to open. Be it an old late 90's vintage, or that new hyped pastry barleywine from Four Captains or whatever. Be it Double Barrel Anabasis or your local canned barleywine. Be spontaneous, don't be afraid to open a special bottle, don't be afraid to go with the only option you could find. There are no awards at the end of this, so just have fun!

    Here are some quick links to BA's examples and descriptions of these various styles.

    American Barleywine

    English Barleywine

    Wheatwine

    Ryewine (not added to BA yet)
    Ricewine (not added to BA yet)

    Overview: Final details will be included in the official tasting thread, but for anyone who may be new to this or unsure how it works, it's very simple - on Friday, the 29th, a thread will go up hosting the tasting. Your job is simply to open yourself a barleywine/wheatwine/ryewine/ricewine, and share your thoughts in the thread. Include a photo of your ale of choice, along with a review of it. Reviews are highly encouraged - they needn't be a full wall of text, but some notes describing the appearance, aroma, flavour, body/mouthfeel, and overall thoughts on the beer are more than sufficient. Just enough to give everyone else an idea of what it's like. This isn't WBAYDN, but a tasting event, so anything you can say about the beer and it's characteristics is greatly appreciated.

    How to upload photos to forums

    With all of that out of the way, let's get to planning! I hope to see many of you there, and I encourage anyone who has any kind of barleywine laying around to pop in and pour it with us! These are difficult times, and social activities have been severely stunted, so hopefully this will serve to inspire just a little more meaning to opening a beer and enjoying it with others in some capacity.

    I hereby invite you to join the Online Barleywine Tasting: January 29th - 31st, 12pm EST. 11am CST, 10am MT, 9am PST. Hope to see you there!
     
    Premo88, Mbgreg, SawDog505 and 41 others like this.
  2. keithmurray

    keithmurray Pooh-Bah (2,943) Oct 7, 2009 Connecticut
    Pooh-Bah Society

    If I can secure employment by then, I'm saving a JW Lees to pop to celebrate the occasion.
     
    SawDog505, VAcrossr, SABERG and 20 others like this.
  3. SierraNevallagash

    SierraNevallagash Initiate (0) Sep 23, 2018 Maine
    Trader

    I have a small vintage set of J.W. Lee's bottles. I will hire you to be my bottle popper and pourer. Be aware, this is a temp gig.

    Good luck on the job hunt! I've been out of work since March, just eating away at my savings. I fully understand the struggle.
     
  4. Wasatch

    Wasatch Grand Pooh-Bah (5,406) Jun 8, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Don't see too many barleywines around here, but if I do, I will join in.

    Cheers!
     
  5. Snowcrash000

    Snowcrash000 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,017) Oct 4, 2017 Germany
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I already got two barleywines sitting in my cellar ready to go and hope that I will be able to pick up another bottle of the best barleywine I've ever had next week.
     
  6. woemad

    woemad Grand Pooh-Bah (5,145) Jun 8, 2003 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Nice! I've got a couple barleywines on deck, including one I just picked up yesterday, that I'll save for this occasion.
     
  7. IKR

    IKR Maven (1,466) May 25, 2010 California
    Trader

    Damn, sounds good and normally I'd be in for a barleywine tasting but I'll be still be "drying out" then. I'll be living vicariously through all the participants though!
     
  8. Beer-A-Lot

    Beer-A-Lot Pooh-Bah (1,937) Oct 4, 2012 Virginia
    Pooh-Bah Society

    In the immortal words of Yoda, "Search through my Bourbon County Barleywine stash, I must."
     
  9. CaptainHate

    CaptainHate Initiate (0) Apr 22, 2006 Ohio

    I'm in. I'll probably go with a River Roost Soaked in Sin Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Barleywine I picked up at the brewery in September 2019. Even though it's categorized as an American Barleywine it has almost no hop presence and should be considered an English style. I usually restrict my beer drinking to Saturday (long story and not germane to the topic) but if that is extended I have Old Stock in my cellar from 2012 on up.
     
  10. mikeinportc

    mikeinportc Grand Pooh-Bah (3,331) Nov 4, 2015 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I picked up a bomber of Old Horizontal Wednesday ($5.19:+1:) with the talk of this in mind.
    BB date of 12 Nov 2020. Anybody know what that means for bottling date?
     
  11. hillind

    hillind Pundit (971) Apr 24, 2010 Pennsylvania

    I want to say Old Ho is 5 years, but man it’s been a while.
     
  12. SierraNevallagash

    SierraNevallagash Initiate (0) Sep 23, 2018 Maine
    Trader

    Should I open my Anabasis and attempt to solo dome it, or save it to share with someone?
     
  13. lucius10

    lucius10 Pooh-Bah (2,242) Aug 1, 2017 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    #solodome #teamsolodome :grin:

    My beer bros sometimes fuss at me for solo doming whales from time to time...but, I mean, sometimes you need to just crack one open all by yourself and sip on it for a while and appreciate life. LOL! Like tune out the world and enjoy it! Haha! #allbymyself
     
  14. FlaviusG

    FlaviusG Zealot (593) Aug 15, 2009 Illinois
    Trader

    I’ve got a 2002 JW Lees

    2014 Bourbon County Barleywine might be good too
     
    SFACRKnight, woemad, BMBCLT and 12 others like this.
  15. dcotom

    dcotom Grand Pooh-Bah (5,503) Aug 4, 2014 Iowa
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I've been hanging onto a 2018 §ucaba, and I'm off that weekend. That can mean only one thing: I'm in.
     
  16. SierraNevallagash

    SierraNevallagash Initiate (0) Sep 23, 2018 Maine
    Trader

    Feel free to help me pick. Maybe 3-4 bottles..my potential choices are narrowed down to this:

    Pelican - Mother of all Storms (2014)
    Side Project - Anabasis b4
    Side Project - Maple In The Wood b1 (wheatwine)
    Perennial - Devil's Heart of Gold (wheatwine)
    Fremont - Brew 3000
    Bottle Logic - Intrepid Orchid (2020)
    F-W - Sucaba (2013)
    F-W - Helldorado (2015)
    Barreled Souls - Reap What You Sow (ryewine)
    Revolution - Ryeway to Heaven (ryewine)
    Revolution - Straightjacket
    Kane - Stacking Casks b2
    J.W. Lee's - '02 Harvest, '09 Harvest, '12 Harvest Calvados, '13 Harvest Sherry, '16 Harvest Port, '17 Harvest Lagavulin

    Those are my options. Help me out!
     
    SABERG, SFACRKnight, woemad and 9 others like this.
  17. unlikelyspiderperson

    unlikelyspiderperson Grand Pooh-Bah (3,862) Mar 12, 2013 California
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Got an old Old Foghorn, some Bigfoot of a few years, possibly a Sucaba. Do old ales count? I work weekends so , more than one of these type of beers on any night will be pushing it. That'll probably rule out the main local example which only comes in bombers
     
    Jaycase, Whyteboar, ChicagoJ and 11 others like this.
  18. donspublic

    donspublic Grand Pooh-Bah (3,478) Aug 4, 2014 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Will try and make it. Christmas day I was packing up to go to the in laws and grabbed my Anchor Christmas beer out of the fridge. Popped it open after I pulled the turkey out and went outside to enjoy it for a few minutes. Nose was off, color was off, taste was off, went back and grabbed the bottle and it was a 2015 Foghorn that I found on a shelf and was going to drink for new years. Not really a big fan of starting the day off with a 10% beer, but it was enjoyable
     
  19. SierraNevallagash

    SierraNevallagash Initiate (0) Sep 23, 2018 Maine
    Trader

    As much as I love old ales (and have a few late '90s vintages I'm dying to open, myself), I'm thinking that they deserve their own tasting, and should probably not be included among barleywine. However, this is the planning thread, and that's certainly open to discussion. If the overwhelming consensus is to include them, than I haven't an issue with it.

    It's worth noting, that if the bottle opener just happens to slip, and the old ale spills into your glass, and the photo is accidentally uploaded, along with an accidental review, it's not like I'm going to report you for breach of contract or anything.
     
    AlexIrigoyen, o29, Jaycase and 13 others like this.
  20. Snowcrash000

    Snowcrash000 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,017) Oct 4, 2017 Germany
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I also know one place that should still have a bottle or two of Sucaba around, but I'm not paying 18€ for that :confused:. Besides, I enjoyed most beers from Pohjala, Pühaste and De Molen a lot more than American stuff that is 2-3 times as expensive anyway.
     
    Roy_Hobbs, o29, Whyteboar and 9 others like this.
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