Barleywine Connundrum

There is a good deal of variation between British and American Barleywines and stuff aged in bourbon barrels. The British varieties tend to be big, malty and alcoholic and can stand some age to develop sherry notes. American Barleywines tend to use more hops. They should be maltier than an Imperial IPA and the malt should be featured more. If you are familiar with the movie Spinal Tap, a barelywine is a beer that goes all the way to 11.

 

BCBBW is unique as it is aged in barrels that previously held the stout. I don't feel like most barleywines are very stout-like. To me, barleywines are always high abv, thick, sweet, and have flavors of dark fruits. They typically won't have that roasty chocolate/coffee characteristic of stouts. English barleywines don't have the huge hop profile that American ones tend to have. A hoppy barleywine can certainly seem a lot like an imperial IPA.

 

American versions tend to be very hoppy and there was a period before people started using the term "Double/Imperial IPA" where an American Barleywine essentially filled a similar role. For instance, Avery's Hog Heaven was dubbed a barleywine mainly because it was the closest thing at the time it was first created. There's still a little overlap here and there, but current DIPA trends tend to lean away from the malt character (especially caramel notes) from a barleywine and focus entirely on hop character.

English versions are definitely different and much sweeter. Plus, their hops lend more of an earthy bitterness rather than the piney and tropical notes from American "C" hops. The only real overlap these would have would be with Old Ale I suppose. Think sweet, malt, caramel, a little bit of orange peel (maybe), and warming alcohol.

When you toss anything into a barrel - that adds another element and one that doesn't necessarily follow normal style guidelines, too.

 

Perhaps you're not drinking them slowly, letting the warm. The complexities that evolve from the pour to later sips are part of the joy of most bigger beers, but particularly barleywines IMO. I find this particularly accute in English barleywines. Too often people get lost in the sweetness, and miss out on so much.

 

Get yourself a Mother of All Storms from Pelican Brewing in OR. Pure Bliss!!!

 

How old was the Bigfoot? IMHO, Bigfoot doesn't even start to taste like a Barleywine until it's 3 years old. I think the sweet spot for Bigfoot is around 5 years, but I've enjoyed them well into their teens.

And, you seem to have discovered one of the potential pitfalls of barrel-aging beers, that the beers picks up too much booze. It's a delicate balance between having the booze compliment the beer, versus having the booze dominate the beer.

 

Looking forward to this one. Finally got my hands on a bottle.

 

I 100% agree with this - just picked up the 2015 and thought it was pretty much a malty DIPA. I drank it with a 2013, and the difference was pretty amazing. I think of American vs English Barlewines as 2 completely different beers because of the aggressive hops in the American version.

I have quite a lot of American style barleywines in the cellar at the moment, but i am trying to switch my buying to english - I prefer the malt characteristics. If you get a chance check out Weyerbacher Insanity and Blithering Idiot - I thought those were pretty good examples of the base english style (one barrel aged, one not). Of course you could also just go get some JW Lees - mighty fine stuff, and as english as they get.

 

Barleywine is a very rare type of beer in this country, and there isn't really an 'English style' of barleywine. This was invented by Americans who had probably only tasted two or three barleywines (can you name them?) made in England (all of these were exported to America and rarely drunk by the English), and came to the conclusion that there is an 'English' style of Barely wine. This style only exists in American culture. The first beer called 'Barley Wine' was Bass No. 1. It's just a strong beer.

 

Very interesting read;

"Today, English barley wines are not prevalent, but CAMRA has ensured enough interest to keep the style alive and coveted over the past 30-odd years. Thankfully, American brewers have more than taken up the slack with the verve and independence that has defined the microbrew revolution in the US."

http://allaboutbeer.com/article/barley-wine/

 

And aging helps too. I have found 2 y.o. SN Bigfoot to be absolutely delicious and much smoother than if I drank it earlier.

 

Whether or not the English/American BW distinction has any historical basis or is geographically accurate (I'll take @LordCrabapple at his word that it doesn't and isn't), it's still useful. As others have pointed out, American versions tend to be hoppier, often to the point of being indistinguishable from IIPAs. Since BCBBW is a barrel aged beast, barrel aged barleywines are an obvious go-to (Sucaba is a personal favourite). If you're interested in expanding your palatte to non-barrel BWs, try some maltier examples, like JW Lee's Harvest Ale (particularly with age), as well as some Old Ales like Old Stock and Curmudgeon.

 

Er, I'm not at all sure about the accuracy of that article (or what CAMRA has done for strong beer ('beer is for drinking not sipping')), but the great thing about American brewing is that it revived older types of beer that were not common here...Actually, many strong beers brewed in England were intensely hoppy (though not in the same way contemporary American beer is hoppy), rather than malty. Yes, Bigfoot is fantastically hoppy and, together with Anchor Old Foghorn, one of the great American beers.

 

Second the old curmudgeon - quality old ale, but basically the same thing as an english style barleywine.
I think they age it on oak chips? Not sure if they use barrels or chips, but either way it picks up the characters you would expect from a beer that has been aged against wood, but without the bourbon notes overpowering.

 

American Barleywine - much hoppier, think malty DIPA
English Barleywine - hardly any hops, think toffee caramel deliciousness
BCBBW is aged in barrels that had the stout aging in them the year before, so that explains the similar chocolate taste between the two

 

Couldnt tell the difference between a barleywine and a stout? Im confused by that one

 

An interesting thing that points to this distinction would be JW Lees marketing of it's "harvest" ale, which is a Barleywine. When we think of "Harvest Ales" in the US, it's hop harvest, and almost always a fresh hop IPA or Pale Ale. In Lees' case, this would almost certainly be barley they are speaking of in terms of harvest. Upon drinking a JW Lees Harvest, it is straight fruity, malty, sweet grain. Definitely different from the majority of American Barleywines that still pack a bitter bite to offset the sweetness of the malt.

 

agree about letting it warm up.

Bell's Third Coast Old Ale is a nice one too, that's not too difficult to get

 

Bigfoot, being an American Barleywine, is not all that different from what some brewers call a "Triple IPA", only the TIPAs tend to have that much more hops to go along with the "IPA" label.

As others have suggested, seek out some English Barleywines, which will have a much lesser hop profile. Aged barleywines, even of the American variety, will also have a lesser hop presence (Bigfoot with a few years on it is sublime).

It looks like this has also been discussed, but you'll also want to explore Old Ales, which are essentially low-ABV barleywines.

A couple more to try include Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot and Insanity (barrel aged Blithering Idiot), Firestone Walker Sucaba (harder to find but superb), and Hair of the Dog Adam (also hard to find, but again exceptional, especially with age).