Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2022)

Jackie O's Cellar Cuvee 11



Inspired by @Hinda65 and bottle courtesy of @DIM.

I don't have the vocabulary to describe this. Syrupy, low carbonation, some subtle alcohol... just absolutely delicious.

And... the weather here is perfect, the Sillies are losing yet again, tiki torches are lit, and I'm fine with all of it. I hope y'all are having a great holiday weekend.

 

My sentiments exactly...it was really good

 

Saturday I had their English bitter and it was nowhere near my expectation for the style, so I was a bit unsure what to expect from their barley wine, but it made up for the earlier letdown. Wish I could’ve hung out instead of just picking up, looked like a pretty great place.

 

Yes!

 

So my local beer store seems to be one of those that is at the forefront of the new distribution in the NoVa area. One of the recent blasts they sent out was about getting beers from Wild East, which apparently brews beer in Brooklyn, NY. There was a day when I had some idea of the non-local breweries that hit the area before they did, but that day is gone and this brewery is just one of more than a handful that I have seen on their shelves.

I'd pretty much ignored them for a while, but in searching for beers in general this week I saw they had a prominently listed English-style Barleywine. Since that was my vote in this poll, I decided to grab one of these that @DIM reviewed just above, Belligerence.

Pours a more amber color, which oddly I feel is more English and I sort of expect more caramel and maybe honey from it. Nose has a cherry edge to a honey malt sweetness with a slightly boozy edge.

Opening isn't as thick as expected, and the burst of flavors that come start with the cherry blossom honey note but a stronger than expected piney bitterness rolls in. It ends up producing a bold bitter coffee impression, and while not what I expect from an English barley wine, is quite enjoyable.

As I drink, I notice the underlying malt providing a strong base for the hops I missed originally. A honey-sweet booze flitters in from above that harkens back to the proclaimed style, but overall it has a strength of bitterness I equate to American barley wines.

In the end, I think it leans hoppy and a bit more American, but the malt flavors with a bite of booziness are familiar to what I expect from the English style. I'm wondering if it'd seem more or less English with some times and hop fade, though I also wonder if the hop aging and oxidation might work to drag down the malt flavors as well.

Final say, I am quite enjoying this beer independent of trying to decipher a classification for it.

 

Mayhem & Mischief 2021
Dual Citizen Brewing Company, Saint Paul, MN

2021 version, 11.5% ABV tested from a 750ml waxed bottle. Bottle number 82/100. Brewery/bottle notes: In this version we included Maple Sugar on top of an extended boil.. Gold medal winner at 2022 WBC. I had a full pour at the tap room a few weeks ago, I think the bottle at home is better.

Look: dark reddish amber body, Nice 2 stage head with a aggressive pour. nice fine head that is persistent leaving massive amounts of lacing.
Smell: ? Pollen attack day so?
Taste: It was better as it warmed, Deep stonewashed dark fruit, toffee, hint of a toasted bread almost roast flavor. micro hint of maple which seemed more pronounced from the draft pour. Sweet, but does have bitter elements esp. towards the finish. Rather smooth. Alcohol is well hidden but you can tell there is plenty of ABV,
Fee:l Nice, soft, slightly creamy. not thin slightly syrupy

A solid beer. 4.07/5 overall
https://untappd.com/b/dual-citizen-brewing-company-mayhem-and-mischief-2021/4625841
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/51733/536027/

 

Founders, Bottle Shop Series #1: Nemesis
bottled 3/09/21
I thought this was way too ruff and hoppy when fresh. So I cellular-ed some.
It's tasting good and better. still some pine hop notes in it. It's smoother now
Some dark fruit. caramel, molasses, a hint of roasted malt. and something else too? Leather or cigar tobacco maybe? It's softer in the mouth now too. It's more sweet now too but still has bitter elements. Abv is rather well hidden.
I will give it a 4.06+/5 today

 

so not head to head, but I had two barley wines today.
Which was better? very close
Founders is more complex with more flavor layers.
Dual Citizen was smoother and easier drinking. I put the 750ml bottle down like nothing.

 

How does that compare to when you had it fresh?

 

I think i was one of the first ones to rated it here. I wrote it was ruff, as a warning to others. I don't remember the score but I think I deleted the review after about a week

 

I've been on a spending freeze, but this may break it. Let me know on the status of the HotD order, and I'll proceed accordingly.

Thanks for your thoughts on the beer as well.

 

I so wanted the buy a bunch of beer from them but the shipping is high and you get charged for the shipping box. Could not do it

Enjoy

 

Back to the Bigfoot Legacy pack and enjoyed the 2016 version today which was more balanced than the 2014 version which was still a hop bomb "not that there is anything wrong with that". Also enjoyed a 2022 which is hoppy as you can imagine.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Ya never know when a Seinfeld quote is gonna interrupt yer day. Ya know it's gonna happen, every day, just never quite where or when.

 

Get more. Someone should do a blind taste between Nemesis and Mother of All Storms. I think it’s be closer than one might think.

 

It’s like wrapping yourself in velvet.