R88 has entered this chat Washing down that garbage that was Fifty Fifty Eclipse aged in Garrison Brothers Barrels
I've had a few of these but haven't reviewed one yet. These are filled to the very top and a bit messy to open. I've had this both cold and at cellar temp, the latter is much better. The vanilla is more muted and better incorporated, allowing raisins, creme brulee, leathery tobacco, mellow oak, and dark fruit jerky to shine through. While there is also plenty quality bourbon throughout, this is far from hot or boozy. An incredibly smooth treat overall.
Sounds like a great one, Dan! I love sampling barleywine over a range of temperatures. Most of the time cellar temp seems better.
With all of the recent talk about the Bigfoot review on YouTube, it got me looking at the top beers of the two main barleywine categories. Here is the top 100 list for American Barleywines. It struck me that many of the top beers wouldn't be considered American barleywines in my book. What do you think? Perhaps some of them were labeled as American barleywines by the brewery (which should be respected), but others some seem questionable. Take Anabasis from Side Project, for example. Here's the brewery's description: Anabasis is our Barleywine that was brewed with American malts and hops, but fermented with a strong English Ale strain to provide rich toffees, fruity hops, with a strong leathery, caramel backbone. Bourbon and vanilla showcase the roundness of 17 months of aging in some of our favorite bourbon barrels. Once the barrels are mature, we blend and create what we are proud to share with you. There is no requirement that English barleywines be brewed with British malts, so this seems fine. The IBU is a big separator of American and English barleywines, with 40-60 being English and 60-100 being American. Previous versions of Anabasis report an IBU of 42. Given this, should we think about changing the category? Maybe all barleywine should be lumped together given this ambiguous division?
I still haven't tried the 2025 version. My memory tells me that you didn't love it. Is that still the case?
Based on the description i would vote for a change assuming it ends up on the sweet side as opposed to balanced or leaning hoppy.
My memory tells me that i don't remember the one from yesterday I don't remember having 2025 before this, but at the price, which isn't too bad at around $5, i wouldn't buy it if i was sober. I was half drunk when i grabbed all kinda dumb shit at TW
I'd oppose this. It's helpful for identifying English Barleywines, since most of them probably have the right style, and they're more likely to have been labeled English by the brewer. If they were combined, looking at reviews would still give an indication of bitterness for most of them, so not the end of the world.
I think we need a third category besides American or English, other. Untappd has this and I think it is a good tool to classify barley wines are not either classically American or English.
2013 J.W. Lees Harvest Ale. Tasting great. Actually quite sweet. That classic Harvest Ale taste is there - kind of a smoky figs type thing. Toffee, bread, plums, light chocolate, and vanilla pudding.
Now drinking Binkie Claws from Hair of the Dog and De Molen. This was a cool collaboration back in 2015 where they changed up the Doggie Claws barleywine recipe a bit. This is also much higher ABV at 13.4%. I think I have one bottle left after this. The nose is rich toffee, figs, honey, and plums. Little to no hop presence, which is typical for Doggie Claws. The taste is fantastic. 11 years old and still great. Toffee, slight hops, plums, raisins, and oak. Malty for sure. This is currently landing right in the middle of an American and English barleywine.
It is thirty degrees warmer in Minneapolis, MN, than it is in TitleTown, USA. All we can do is collaborate. Central Waters Brewing and Fair State Brewing. @Beersnake, I have a can of this for you.
Decided to drink my last bottle of this amazing beer. I wish they would release this (or at least a BA barleywine) every year! The taste is still pretty boozy. Hasn't changed much since it was released. Rich toffee, brown sugar, loads of bourbon, vanilla, barrel char, figs, and prunes. Based on the ABV and extent of aging, these were active barrels. I wouldn't be surprised if they were pretty wet barrels. Amazing beer, as I know @DIM agrees! @GreenBayBA - I have fulfilled my obligation!
I've got 1 left. I'm going to give it a few years to see where it goes I think. I remember GI saying that 2/3 of this was double barreled, so yeah TONS of barrel character. And yes, GI needs to release barleywine regularly! Wheatwines too.
