Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2025)

Maybe better is a stretch, but I definitely prefer them overall. The barleywine-ish styles in particular, like the ryeway and straight jacket variants suit my palate better than anything ive tried from Firestone.

I with you on parabajava being better than cafe deth though. For the price though I'll take crushing mass over both.

 

If it still tastes like dishwater I owe you a beer.

 

I am a BW Expert god damnit!

 

Love me some Crushing Mass, but in my book we’ve crossed the line well into stout region and away from barleywine. Straitjacket hits my palate nicely, but I’ll take a barrel aged Nemesis and its bitter core over Straitjacket most days (but not all days). Cheers. Now I’m thirsty but what to drink

 

A truly bad decision was made tonight with two beers already under my belt:

 

Gonna be a rough morning... what a great beer.

 

Straight jacket by revolution brewing

4.43/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Chilled 12 oz can recieved in bif #2 stouts and barleywines from @Bishop

Brewers notes: The soul of Barleywine channeled through vivifying bourbon barrels and blended with an alchemist's touch. Summon notes of caramel, stone fruit, brown sugar, and vanilla with each generous swirl.

2023 edition 15% abv

Lured into an Ozark Beer Co snifter courtesy of @russpowell

Ruby red and brown cola liquid crowned Abby a pencil thick taupe foam crown , reduces to an island with a ring

Aroma is toffee

Taste is sweet toffee, rum soaked raisins, vanilla, figs, this is aged in bourbon barrels

Medium sudsing, 15% abv is extremely well hidden

Delicious beer, deceptively well made as the 15% abv is so well hidden..

Thanks @Bishop for sending me this brew, I am enjoying this one. recommended

 

Your post lured me on to this thread, vice the BIF thread. To be fair, 16% ABV on mine

 

I was rather sluggish today, but not downright incapacitated.

 

Sig Oak + Age While My Otter Gently Weeps 14 mo Bourbon/Port BA English Barleywine, 12.8% ABV. Pours very deep brown, with a ring of light-brown bubbles that leaves an oily sheen instead of lacing. Very complex beer. Aromas include but are not limited to oak, bourbon, grape, dark fruit. Taste is oak, chocolate, grape, bourbon, some pleasant burn, no sweetness, slight oak bitterness. Excellent dry mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

4.44/5 rDev +3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Epic glass and beer thanks to @snaotheus in a return-fire Stout/Barleywine BIF box. I've been admiring these glasses, so I'll be using the hell out of it! And who doesn't love weeping otters?

 

Great name for a beer LOL!
@Resistance88 ratings help one remember how much one loved or hated a beer at the time of a sampling, comes in handy when in a debate
Full cross posting from WBAYDN today...just wanted to share some of the shock and awe from today's hike just east of Asheville. This opens my eyes to a new level of the devastation Helene caused in the region...keep up the entertainment gentlemen!

Enjoyed a hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier today which started at the Folk Art Center, the last open stretch of the BRP for 75 miles heading North(East) due to Hurricane Helene. It's amazing the amount of work the Forest Service did to open the trail.
Anyway, this is not Hiking Advocate, onto today's first brew which is one from Sierra Nevada's private club, the Alpha Hop Society from the December Dessert release, a Blond Barleywine aged in Gin and Brandy barrels, Meyer Lemons, and Blueberries. The Barrel team called this a Blueberry Scone with lemon glaze. It took about a third of the 375ml bottle to acclimate the palate to this. But it was good and not as sweet given the amount of lemon zest bitterness and the gin botanicals. Fun beer to try. Listening to Lithium on Sirius.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Free firewood or decorative porch chairs!

I don't think I'll ever revert back to rating beets. My memory is so shot that i like having the same beer for the first time again and again.

 

Sounds like a lovely day Tom!

 

It's a barleywine kind of night. Other people's kids...
Old No. 6 barrel aged barleywine from Future Primitive courtesy of @snaotheus Label says 2023 and the bottom of the can says 2024? Anyway, it's a blend of 6 years of BA barleywine.



Hooboy this is a full throttle BA barleywine right here! Tons of brash caramel and brown sugar sweetness up front to go along with lots of smooth booze. Some dried cherries in there as well. The finish is an absolute kick in the teeth, aspirin bitterness, hot booze, and oaky char all linger after the fiery exhale. Hard to believe some of this is 6 years old. Just what I needed, thanks Ryan!

 

Ladd & Lass Year Two BA English Barleywine, 13% ABV. Pours moderately thick and dark-brown with a ring of light-brown bubbles that left an oily sheen. Aroma is toffee, nuts, dates, and a faint funkiness. Flavor is toffee, dark fruit, faint chocolate, and nuts, moderately sweet, equally bitter, with moderate bourbon burn. Decent mouthfeel, if a touch heavy on carbonation. Overall outstanding.

4.4/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

This epic glass and beer are thanks to @snaotheus in a Barleywine/Stout return-fire BIF box. He also sent me a Fremont beanie that I was thinking I wouldn't need until next winter, but now we're getting another snow-storm Saturday. Reading the description of this beer, it's somewhat of a cuvée, since they blend it with unnamed BA beers from their cellar, making it nicely complex.

 

I would like to hear more about your days of rating beets. I bet you were verbose and beat the drum on how pickled beets with eggs beat beet juice smoothies. Beers to that way of thinking.

 

You bastard

 

Revolution Ryeway To Heaven



Another one from @DIM and it's a winner. Sweet, strong, syrupy. Really happy to sip this one tonight. Thanks Dan!