Been a long since I chased anything price be damned, but I think I'm going to do whatever it takes to get this one.
Cross posted from the Cellaruary thread: Drinking 2010 and 2021 bottles of JW Lees Harvest Ale side by side The younger bottle is a little sweet, with toffee and caramel flavors. The older bottle is fig, leather, and tobacco, with a dry finish. Tons of depth of flavor in both. One of favorite beers.
Revolution V.S.O.J. 2024 BBA English Barleywine, 14.4% ABV. I rated this 4.87, tied with Central Waters XXV Pappy's BA Imperial Stout as my highest rated beers.
You need yo try this one: Likely my last beer for a while. Doing my yearly “get in shape after winter” deal. Had some wild swings. One time I went from 212 to 170 in a few months. Vowed to never let that happen again lol. Tree of Life from Tree House. Their flagship bba barleywine. It’s one of the best out there, and I’ve had a lot of the great ones. Burnt brown sugar, toffee, caramel, bourbon, coconut, syrupy mouth feel. It’s all here
Cross posted in the New Beer Weekend thread. Busy weekend and didnt drop many New beers down the hatch, unfortunately, but tonight I have one from my good friends in Saco Maine. Barreled Souls and their Big Bang Barleywine, aged in Bookers Bourbon with Apricots and peaches, the beer registers 14.5% ABV. onto my review: Sampling a cellar temp 500 ml bottle poured into my snifter. Bottled on date is 08/06/2024. The beer pours a clear toffee to mahogany brown color with minimal light passage when I hold the glass to a light source. Dense khaki colored head of 0.5 cm foams up and fades to a thin edging soon after the pour. Aroma on this beer is toffee and brown sugar with a good dosage of peach comes through. I dont get any hops and the booze is hidden so far with the aroma. First sip reveals a medium body with sort of slick mouthfeel. Carbonation is larger bubble size feels bubbly in my mouth. Sorry terrible descriptor, but bubbles feel like they pop larger than I would expect. Its a unique feeling to me. Flavor is toffee and brown sugar with hints of bourbon, a bitey black pepper booze hit in the middle and long lingering dried peach flavor after each swallow. never any hop content discovered on this beer and no warming of booze either. The bite in the middle is the only hint of the 14.5%. Im enjoying this beer and the peach flavor works well. Glad to have tried this one, would drink it again. 4.22 in the BA DB
Interesting re-thinking of a barleywine here. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/51676/726402/
I'm pretty sure @sulldaddy sent me one of these 3 years ago or so. It is for sure one of the better BA Barleywines i have ever tried.
On Saturday a friend and i hit a couple of local anniversary celebrations with the second one ending up at Zebulon Artisan Ales in Weaverville. Historical brewer Mike Karnowski, the Zebulon owner, trotted out his 1870 Arctic Ale which was billed as a Black Barleywine. After a couple of fine lagers on our first stop at Cellarest Beer Project, the first sip of the Arctic Ale was licorice and dark fruit. As i sipped on it definitely rounded out and so i had to have a second pour. Fun to finally try! The beer on the right is a Quad called Biere de Noel (from 2019) Today i just finished packing for our 17-day tour thru Northern, Central, and Sierras Cali that starts tomorrow. Flying into Sacramento then driving up to Arcata for a 4-day stay with a focus on the Redwoods National and State Parks in the area, along with some local culture/history and beer of course. Getting into a EBW Coconut variant from 3 Floyds sourced from Pennsyltucky, PA last fall. This is a solid sipper, but the adjuncts have more or less overpowered the base beer. Rated 4.05. I liked the regular Pillar of Beasts better, as the adjuncts were more subtle in that brew from 2023 (4.31). Cheers! Tom
XX Stout was out unfortunately. The anno celebration i think started on Thursday and my buddy could not go until Saturday so not shocked it was gone. Zebulon is truly a "hole in the wall" brewery. I can't be more than 2500 square feet. Mike and Gabe are cool people, much loved by the local community.
The one im talking about in under HOUSE BEERS. those ones you have sent me remain among the best i have ever had in my life; very grateful to have had a few trades with you. I ALWAYS sing high praise for both you and Zebulon
Looks like that's how it was categorized when the new beer was created. Since we don't have a Munichwine category, I'm assuming they thought that was the closest thing. I feel like it would fit under English barleywine - I can change it.
