Bourbon barrel barleywines.

Love this style here are are few that i have tried
Steel Toe Lunker
CW BBBW
Sucaba
FFF BA Behometh
GI BBBW
Brooklyn Hand & Seal
Mother of all storms

 

As for English style, I'd highly recommend Brooklyn Hand and Seal as a recent one that still may be easy to come by. Hoppin' Frog Naked Evil is another outstanding one that should be in your area. Bourbon County Barleywine is top of the heap, but chances are you'll need to wait until Black Friday.

As for American style, you can't go wrong with either SN Barrel Aged Bigfoot or Great Divide Barrel Aged Old Ruffian.

 

Firestone Walker Sucaba
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
Pelican Mother of all Storms
Midnight Sun Arctic Devil
Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel Barleywine
Dry Dock Bligh's Barleywine
Firestone Walker Double DBA
Cigar City Leon
Deschutes Mirror Mirror

 

There were a decent number of Hardywood BB Barley Wines left on the shelves a week or so after release last year, so if you are into trading you should be able to swap some Michigan goodness pretty easily

 

Weyerbacher Insanity after a year is pretty damn good and widely available.
Upland came out with Barrel Chested last year.

A BA Wheatwine you may enjoy from your backyard is Pilgrims Dole.

 

Midnight Sun Arctic Devil is something else too, but I had to resort to an online retailer for that one.

If you're willing to step outside bourbon barrels, there are a few outstanding ones. Clown Shoes Pierre Ferrand Billionaire (cognac) was awesome, and it should be available still. J.W. Lees are definitely worth a try.

 

Weyerbacher Insanity, I would compare it to Sucaba but cheaper.

 

Sucaba was an experience for me. Although, I havent really had too many BBA barleywines.

 

The the last few I've had I've really enjoyed.

Old Hickory Omega point
Sucaba
Bruery Mash & Grind
Hardywood BA barleywine

 

Hill Farmstead Aaron

 

Sucaba, Bc barleywine, omega point. I would love to try some of the bigger ones like great, aaron, mother of all storms, and most of all, king henry.

 

Mother of All effin' Storms

 

King Henry

 

Seriously though, I would've mentioned this as its the only BW that tops MoaS IMO. Wasn't sure how it's drinking now though.

 

Don't know what part of MI you are in but if you ever get over to GR, let me know and I'll spot you a Central Waters BBBW, they are one of my faves.

If you are in detroit trade for a kuhnhenn BBBW, also get one for me because no replies yet to my ISO yet, dammit.

 

Hand & Seal and Arctic Devil are the two mentioned so far that I give highest marks to - and the Central Waters that you mentioned, too. Barrel Aged Old Ruffian is sitting on shelves now, too - the high price-point (~$23 here) keeps it around, but good stuff if you're game.

 

"It's good to be king."

 

Among these, Midnight Sun is amazing and quite easy to get. Double DBA isn't impossible to get either and it's pretty good. Also by firestone walker are sucuba and parabola, both not impossible to find via trading (Sure, Parabola is TECHNICALLY a stout, but whatever). You probably don't want to try and track down Leon just like you probably aren't going to track down Hill Farmstead Aaron. Another poster mentioned Insanity by Weyerbacher and I totally agree. It's a solid gateway barleywine. In particular, you may find you enjoy going after english barleywines even if they aren't all barrel aged. Be careful with american style barleywines as they tend to be giant hoppy beers.

Like someone else mentioned, Omega Point is a great beer. Also you might find you also enjoy old ales. This current iteration of Cuivre by the Bruery is awesome and the Old Stock Ale by northcoast is awesome. Among old ales, I might avoid Curmudgeon by Founders though.