Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2023)

Grimm - XXXXX, Last Of The Steam Powered Trains, Village Green Preservation Society

The quotes are from another thread, but I thought I would reply to the question here... and use it to motivate me to post about the beers I previously drank.

@DIM - "Mild" today means a style of beer (usually quite low in ABV), but in the past it meant an unaged ale (as opposed to an "old ale" or stock ale). Brewers indicated the alcoholic strength of an ale by using a number of Xs. X ale would be weak and XXXX ale would be strong. When brewers today try to brew a strong ale to a historical recipe, they'll sometimes release a beer at 12% that they'll call a mild... and consumers don't know how to react to it. You''ll sometimes see such beers categorized on BA as barley wines. Grimm seems to have decided to give a nod to the past (and the present as well) by releasing an "unaged" 12% ale and calling it XXXXX mild barley wine. Having said that, they actually aged XXXXX 6 months in the bottle though. I guess they'll draw the line where they want to, but they wouldn't put "mild" on the bottles of their barrel aged barley wines though.

I went to the Grimm taproom some time ago and had their XXXXX alongside Last Of The Steam Powered Trains (left glass in the pic... their 2 year cognac barrel aged barley wine) and XXXXX "brûléed" (as Grimm calls it... right glass in the pic) with their Bierstacheln (aka beer poker/stinger/spiker) - a practice where a super hot metal rod is put into the beer. I also bought a bottle of Village Green Preservation Society (their 2 year Madeira cask aged barley wine) to have alongside a bottle of XXXXX I had at home. For those who don't know the cultural reference - the two barrel aged beers are named after Kinks songs (a band tied to images of Englishness).

I don't know if XXXXX is the exact same beer that they used for barrel aging to produce the other two barley wines, but Grimm calls them variants. I was trying to have XXXXX five different ways - one for each X (bottled, kegged, brûléed, cognac barrel aged, and Madeira cask aged).

First off, XXXXX is great. It goes down the easiest out of the group. Caramel, dates, burnt sugar, stone fruit... and the most under-appreciated element in a barley wine - a strong hop bitterness in the finish. The kegged version felt like a quality product but not magical. The bottle was really great though. This might be a palate change on a different day, but I think the serving temp was a factor - I drink my bottles at a warmer temp than what would pour from a keg.

Last Of The Steam Powered Trains - oak, dark fruit, cherry, raisins, and acidic zippiness. There's a sweet and sour quality, with the emphasis on sweet rather than sour.

Village Green Preservation Society - full bodied, very sweet, some wood, caramel, slightly syrupy.

And finally, let's talk about the "poked" beer. I actually tried experimenting with this at home with a makeshift technique and various beers. My results with this made me feel like the practice impacted the beer's temperature and carbonation more than any direct change to flavor... but I also thought I wasn't bringing my metal to a high enough temperature.

The results with genuine German equipment at Grimm were very different. The poker created the usual huge head (it lasted forever). This time it created huge flavor differences. The beer had a tremendously big burnt marshmallow character. The aroma even seemed ashy. The bitterness was amplified and the sweetness partially vanished. I assume XXXXX had a lot of residual sugar and the levels of this probably had a big impact on the flavor change. I also feel like the experience was probably heavy-handed compared to what they would do in Germany. I never had this done in Germany, so I can't really say, but I'm going on a good hunch. I wouldn't be surprised if they have less poker contact with the beer in Germany compared to what was done at Grimm. The extremes of the beer at Grimm meant that it became a chore to drink the entire glass.

In the end, the bottled XXXXX was my clear favorite, but based on my preferences this was a very predictable outcome. I'll post some marketing pics from Grimm in a follow up post.

@M-Fox24 @AlcahueteJ @JackHorzempa

 

Grimm actually had a kick off/release event for this, but I didn't attend. The above pics are from their social media. The pics in the previous post are mine.

 

My first time trying a Fremont barleywine and the same one @Beersnake1 settled on tonight. very good. Sweet, but not sugar sweet, more fruit sweet like plump raisin I evben tatse and smell a little coffee. nice booze and mouthfeel. I could drink this whole bottle but gonna save half for tomorrow night. tasty

 

I think that would have resulted in a more drinkable beer for me, but it would also lack something achievable in the process. If you are more modest with the poker contact, you can create a glass of beer where there’s a big warm head on a beer and the bottom of the beer stays cool. You get two temperatures in one glass and the results are pleasing. I didn’t get this in the glass at Grimm, but I was able to at home. I think the type of glass Grimm uses probably makes this a bit more difficult.

 

Oh boy! My favourite style of beer. One of, if not my favourite album of all time.

I’m going to need to seek these out! Cheers!

 

Village Green is one of my favorite albums too. Grimm ships to Vermont - in case that info helps you out in any convoluted way.

 

Thanks. I have a friend in Buffalo who accepts beer packages for me. I’m assuming in-state shipping is possible. I will be looking into it today. Cheers!

 

Enjoying this treat
2016 version
Lots of candied apricot, bit of vanilla
Excellent texture
Cheers all

 

Coconut BOMBBBBBBB. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!

 

4 years is crazy! Never knew they did a collab with TH. The Anchorage ones are usually American style, right? What’s this one?

 

Anchorage did a deal with the Devil with this one.

Enjoy

 

These arrived Thursday. Opened one up in anticipation as I loved the 2020 version…..,,this is just as good if not a slight bit different. ABV is .5% lower, smell is holiday spice, vanilla bourbon and some citrus. There is no head as I pour this, the original version had some head on pour but faded fast. Taste is vanilla cinnamon and a light heat. Does not drink like 12.5%. Glad I bought as many as I did. I have 1 or 2 original left and want to do a side by side one day. I do think I remember the original being a tad bit better in my taste but my notes are very similar.

Goes great with holiday cookies.

Enjoy