Barleywine - where to start?

New to the style also and only had 1 so far. This year's SN Bigfoot. I liked it fresh, but people say it's better with age, so I'm aging a few.

 

Depending where you live, easy to get Barleywines are:
SN Big Foot
Brooklyn Monster
FW Sucaba
Weyerbacher Insanity and Blithering Idiot
Harpoon Leviathan BW
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Troegs Flying Mouflan
Southern Tier Backburner
Bell's Third Coast Ale
Green Flash Barleywine
Stone Old Guardian
Middle Ages Druid Fluid
Sam Adams Griffins Bow
just to get you started...

 

Don't remember my first (barleywine), but I've enjoyed...
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Avery Hog Heaven
DFH Olde School
Weyerbacher Insanity
Victyory Old Horizontal
Troegs Flying Mouflan
Brooklyn Monster

I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

 

SN bigfoot great place to start, my 1st no longer made was Nemisis 2010

 

my first i believe was old gaurdian, thats a good place to start too if you already enjoy ipas. that guy fresh is pretty hoppy.

old foghorn is pretty tasty as well

ba barelywines are a completely different beast

 

Bigfoot was the first one I tried . It's fairly hoppy fresh but I like it . Stone Old Guardian is probably my favorite . It's great fresh but with 2 or 3 years on it it's wonderful . GD Old Ruffian is great too . Try any of those .

 

Some great easy to find ones above (don't forget Old Foghorn). Make sure to try some barrel aged ones as well.

 

Always good to start here....

American BW
http://beeradvocate.com/lists/style/19

English BW
http://beeradvocate.com/lists/style/152

Cheers!

 

Keep in mind there are significant differences between American barleywines and English barleywines. The most notable difference is that American barleywines tend to be much hoppier and have some of the same characteristics of a DIPA especially when fresh. Do a bit of research, and I'd suggest checking out a few of each style.

 

start with super brew 15 that way you can only go up!

 

I think it sort of depends... I was also going to suggest Bigfoot just because it has so much hop character which, IMO, can make it a bit more accessible to the uninitiated. My personal preference on that one is to have it fresh because of that character, but to each his own.

Ditto to the Anchor Old Foghorn and Dogfish Head Olde School.

 

Perfect place to start your research...

 

I'm going to start trying english/american barleywines soon. The first two I'll try are Old Foghorn and Bigfoot, then maybe Old gardian and GF Barleywine. My questions are about those four. first is how important (does it taste better or just different) is it to have an aged barleywine vs fresh? and for about how long should you age them?

 

JW Lees Harvest Ale if it's distributed in your area. Very good, and very easy to get into if you're new to the style.

I love my hoppy beers too, but when it comes to barleywines I prefer malt and fruity esters to be the primary focus--either from the get-go or after some cellaring. If you find that you prefer the same, you may agree that many American Barleywines are too hoppy right out of the gate. (SN Bigfoot, Flying Mouflan, & FFF Behemoth to name a few). These brews smooth out significantly, though, w/ 1+ year of age on them.

 

I would say "No" to Bigfoot (simply because I'm not a big fan of it fresh) and J.W. Lees isn't really something I'd recommend fresh either.

The first one that completely blew me away, which was easy to obtain, was Dieu Du Ciel's Solstice D'hivre.

 

King Henry. Seriously.

 

Notice how many barleywines have the word "old" in them?