Top 5 Barrel Aged Barley Wines

How so? Stouts are my second favorite and to me barrel aging is about adding the proper accents. There are certainly non-BA ones that beat out aged counterparts. And some folks have favorite styles that do not lend themselves to this treatment, or simply haven't been done yet.

 

Reiterating BA Bigfoot, Bourbon County Brand Barleywine and Sucaba.

My local favorites-
BA Old Ruffian
Blighs Barleywine

 

I feel like a thread discussing Top 5 non-BA barleywines would be more interesting and less predictable. Would anyone be mad if I started that? Or would I look like a complete biter? A bitter biter at that.

 

I'm not totally sure why i said that, but I guess just having tried some BA ones that blew my mind, i'm biased.

 

In no particular order,

Aaron
Great
King Henry
Leon
Bourbon County Barleywine

 

CCB Brandy Leon
FSW Sucaba
Goose Island Bourbon County Barley wine
Anchorage Brewing A Deal with the Devil
Dry Dock Bligh's Barleywine BA

 

Very glad to hear it will be back in 2015, and soon

Besides that, Stone Southern Charred, Firestone Walker Sucaba, and Founders Backwoods Bastard. Cheers!

 

King Henry
ADWTD
MOAS
King Henry
King Henry

 

I'm sure it would only secure the style as my number one. Is the weyerbacher one any good? It's the only shelf available one I can think of.

 

Sucaba
Alessmith BA old numbskull. Bother bourbon and rye
BCBBW

 

<--- look at this pic!

 

Great
Aaron
JW Lee's
A Deal With the Devil
Central Waters BABW

 

Mother of All Storms
BCBBW
Sucaba
Old Nuptial
Alpine Great

Those are the 5 best I've ever had. Of note, I am ISO: King Henry and Leon and have been for years.

 

for me (never got to try king henry)

barrel aged xyauyu
NEBCO redrum
sucaba / abacus
BCBBW with homemade brown rum vanilla extract (didn't make the rum; put vanilla beans in it)
marin barrel aged old dipsea with brett

also have a real fondness for uinta's cockeyed cooper.

maybe i've had better than some of those, but those hold the fondest memories for me.\

edit: for a time, port j.w. lees was the greatest beer experience i'd ever had. always pays to remember j.w. lees. p.s. surprisingly, the fresher it is the better!

 

The only one I've had is BCBBW. I thought it tasted close to Backwoods Bastard. I prefer Backwoods Bastard to BCBBW, especially for $4 a bottle. I know it's a scotch ale, but it tasted like a barrel aged barleywine to me.

I'd like to try a King Henry. When is that released and what's different from BCBBW?

 

Great
Old Numbskull (brandy barrels)
Sucaba
Mash & Grind
Bourbon County

 

Old Ales and English barleywines are the same and Stickee Monkee has a barleywine recipe, so

1. King Henry
2. Bourbon County Barleywine
3. Old Stock Cellar Reserve 2011 (brandy barrel aged)
4. Naked Evil
5. Stickee Monkee

Honorable mention to Weyebecher Insanity.

King Henry was a one-time deal back in 2011, it was an English barleywine aged in Bourbon County Rare barrels (which themselves were 23yr Pappy bourbon barrels). BCBB has nearly the same recipe as King Henry, but it's aged in a mixture of regular Bourbon County barrels and new bourbon barrels. This year's ratio was 70% BCBS barrels, 30% fresh bourbon barrels, I think.

And a traditional "Scotch ale" or "wee heavy" is pretty much just an English barleywine made with Scottish malt and water. If it's made in America then it's probably an English barleywine made with peat-smoked malt and/or a bit of roasted barley.

 

King Henry (By a mile, nothing even close to this)

Leon
BCS Barleywine
Sucaba
MoaS
Central Waters BABW

 

Not to be nitpicking, but Avery Samael's is neither barrel-aged or a Barleywine.

 

Not barrel-aged sure, but it's a barleywine. Mephistopheles is the stout and The Beast is the quad.


Unless you meant it isn't a barleywine on the basis of adjuncts, in which case you're right, though I think that would disqualify several of the beers already posted...