A Barley Wine for Every Day

I had that one years ago... from a growler. It wasn't a beer well-suited for that kind of volume. I'd love to try it again.

 

Hmmm... I don't know if I've seen that, but I'll keep an eye open for it. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Your comment on the dry finish is a very interesting one - I can see how you'd say that. I had no problems with the feel of the Traquair beer. It's easy to be romantic about their beers, but they are so lovely anyway... at least the House Ale is - that might be the only one I've had. When I get one, I treat it like an indulgence.

Regarding the "thick" beers - part of the scene is obviously fixated on "bigger." There are threads devoted to recommendations for thick stouts. If it's not the juiciest, hoppiest, thickest, murkiest, blackest, (fill in the blank)... then why even bother? (I'm being sarcastic, but at least some might subscribe to that.) It's fine for people to have their preferences, but one byproduct of that thinking is the use of the words tasteless or flavorless for some beers. Time for some recalibration.

 

Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale

Sorry - no pic.

A terrific beer. There's a hint of smoke but you don't really notice it because it's integrated so well. There's the typical nuttiness I get from good bourbon barrel beers. It's sweet... but the sweetness and fruitiness in this beer are very different when compared to others in the thread. The flavor is more of a burnt fruitiness... like bananas foster. This beer pulls off a heavy barrel character with far more synergy than the norm.



Central City Thor's Hammer

This is the version that is bottle conditioned and matured for 1 year.

It's a gorgeous dark red/brown. It's a bit hot, grainy, rich, fruity. The sweetness is kept in check. Ultimately, it's a very nice sipping beer and a very rewarding barley wine. Recommended, but would be even better if the alcohol was a little less noticeable.



Dogfish Head Immort Ale

I was pleased to see this one return to production. It's a very unusual beer. The color looks chestnut in the light of the pic, but in the room where I drank it, the color temperature made the beer look an absolutely stunning crimson. Wonderful. There's a faint smokiness. The beer is oily. Would be very drinkable but the noticeable alcohol prevents it from being so. One of a kind.

 

In another thread, someone asked me what I thought the "standard" English barley wine was. I listed a few, but also responded with, "As far as English beers that you can actually still get in the US - J.W. Lee's Harvest and Fuller's Vintage Ale (sibling of Golden Pride)." After that post, I knew I was foolish for making such claims and then not including Fuller's Vintage Ale in this thread.




I immediately went about correcting my error and grabbed a 2013 bottle. Unfortunately, I'm still a fool because I drank this one so long ago and I don't want to mischaracterize it... so I'll keep my mouth relatively shut regarding my drinking of it. That close pic tells a thousand words anyway. This beer does in fact make one think that it fulfills the role of "English barley wine" wonderfully. It's hoppy and sweet... while being smooth, fruity, and approachable in a truly English way. The fact that it doesn't have "barley wine" on the label, and that it's unlike any brash or huge barley wine, has probably caused this beer to be left out of many conversations regarding the style. You would think that Fuller's would be in the conversation more since Americans consider their London Pride and ESB to be absolute icons in the pale ale style... and a very big version of a pale ale would be a barley wine.

 

This pic was posted a while ago, but I'm just getting to my reactions now. These were mainly beers that I decided to revisit a second time. Here are a couple of thoughts:


Greenport Anti-Freeze has given me such different impressions each time. The faint sourness was gone on this one but so was the interest. It was thin and unappealing.

Thirsty Dog Bernese was rich, rough, boozy, and hazy.

Great Divide Hibernation is really unusual. It's roasty like some porters. It's thin, bitter, and really great. There's nothing else like it. A favorite.

North Coast Old Stock is decadent, sweet, candy-ish, fruity, hot... but it still has a clean quality to it.

Anchor Old Foghorn is sweet and smooth. This time around, I was getting an intense banana aroma. I consider this to be part of Anchor's house character. I don't know if this is due to their yeast. When I have an Anchor beer on it's own, this character is more subdued. When I have an Anchor beer alongside others, this aroma/taste becomes intense. I could see how this aroma would give this beer a special edge for some drinkers - it gave it an extra layer. In my case (and in this context), I found it to be too off-putting.

This Bell's Third Coast was just as oxidized as the last one. It's rich, heavy, grainy, and hot. There is a bitterness that sometimes comes out.

Barrier Archibald really agrees with me. It's malty without feeling overly sweet. It's interesting without being extreme. It's a nice chestnut color. The bottle conditioning has left a nice amount of yeast in the bottle.

I recently talked about Well's McEwans Scotch Ale , but I'll elaborate here. It is not a victim of the exaggerated sweetness that you might find in examples of Scotch Ales or barley wines. It's an attractive dark brown - much like Adnams Tally Ho. It is a bit lacking in character, but the upside of this is its drinkability. It is reminiscent of Tally Ho in many ways but it doesn't possess the same concentration of fruitiness. A really likable beer regardless.

Adnams Tally Ho was a bit too oxidized. It's a near-black dark brown. It's such a cohesive beer. It's characterful while still approachable.

I told you I'd get back to you at the end of the thread and I kept my promise.
When I think of what you're asking in regards to Old Rasputin, I think of these requirements:

- available in a 4 or 6 pack format
- year round
- very large distribution footprint
- good quality
- good price
- flavorful but approachable
- hits the middle of the style very well without straying too far

I think you are left with Anchor Old Foghorn and North Coast Old Stock Ale here. It's a matter of personal preference after that. Anchor's beer created the template in the craft era in America... so you can't argue with that. It also might be cheaper per bottle than Old Stock depending on your store. Due to my impressions that I've outlined above (Anchor house character), I might go with Old Stock myself even though I agree that it can be too hot. When you consider that this is the same brewery as Old Rasputin, you might come to the conclusion that North Coast must be the most "taken for granted" brewery on these forums. When you add in that they make some nice Belgian beers, a nice pale/amber ale, and a great pilsner... they start to look like real champs.

Anyway... give Foghorn a shot if you haven't yet. If we disregard the distribution and year-round issue - try Great Divide's Old Ruffian for a hoppy take or Bell's Third Coast for a very malty take.

 

My last beer of this thread is either a very special one or some great marketing BS… I couldn't tell you which. Either way, it's a special post. It's Harpoon's Arctic Ale. When I saw a bottle of this in the store, I had to have it.

"Arctic Ale" - yeah, that's a real thing… and it's a legendary beer.



In 1845, John Franklin led an expedition to the Canadian Arctic. The mission failed and all was lost, but Queen Victoria demanded that efforts be made to find any remains. She asked Burton brewers to create a "life sustaining ale" that would accompany five ships to discover what happened to the expedition.

Bass, Salt, Truman and Worthington competed to produce the beer but the contract was awarded to Allsopp's. The beer was considered an important scurvy-preventer for the ship's crew. Unfortunately, no remains of the Franklin expedition were found, and Arctic Ale was brewed again in 1857 for a second (and also unsuccessful) search.

This wasn't the last of Arctic Ale. It was also brewed in 1875 for George Nares's (unsuccessful) expedition to locate the North Pole. This beer was over 11% ABV.

Once we get to the 20th century, Arctic Ale was still being produced at a lesser ABV and not just for actual arctic voyages.

In 1935, Allsopp's merged with Ind Coope, and the Ind Coope barley wine was renamed Arctic Ale. It disappeared in the '60s.

Does any of this have to do with the Harpoon beer? I have no idea.

Perhaps Harpoon used an old recipe, or perhaps they were just using the idea for inspiration. Regardless, the romance of the entire thing rubbed off on me and I was imagining that this was the beer that the unfortunate crews needed to stay alive. If beers here were rated according to: appearance, smell, taste, and romance… the romance scores would be off the chart.

The beer is 13% ABV. It's near black. It's brown at the thin edges. There's a sweetness to it, but not one that resembles the typical fruit sweetness of other barley wines. This sweetness resembles burnt sugar. There's a tobacco quality. The body of this beer is quite light given the style and stats. You really can't feel the ABV. It's ridiculous.

This beer starts off delicious… seriously delicious, but one gets tired of it midway through the 22oz bottle. It was stellar in the beginning but it morphed into a chore.

If Harpoon got rid of this "limited edition" nonsense and decided to package it as a six pack, it would be such a winner.

 

Ah, what I nice image. Barely wines are the "best winter drink" (or so the ads tell me). Fortunately, it's time to put an end to this... summer beers are now hitting the shelves (even though I was freezing yesterday morning).

I honestly didn't think this thread would go beyond four posts. Thanks to everyone who showed any interest… and to the half dozen of you who hung on 'til the end.

I knew I had cast a wide net in this thread, and I was happy doing it. It was a great ride. I can't believe that the scholars didn't come in to slap me around a little. They probably weren't paying attention.

Looking back, when I mentioned a sour note in the 2014 Goose Island BC Barleywine, it was a strange forerunner of the infection threads for the 2015 version that started just a few days later. It was a weird coincidence.

Unless I get second thoughts, I have a sequel of sorts that will be coming soon. It won't be about barley wines, but something else entirely. It'll be a bit more focused. Apologies in advance for anyone who doesn't care.

Here's the list of beers in the thread (with post #s). I ended up with more than double the beers in the first post picture. I tend to go overboard.


Adnams Tally-Ho - 108
Harveys Elizabethan Ale - 108
Anchor Old Foghorn x2 - 115/352
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - 117
Narragansett Olde Ale - 122
St Ambroise Vintage Ale - 123
Nimbus Old Money Shine - 124
Southern Tier Old Man - 127
Boulevard Harvest Dance - 130
Pretty Things Our Finest Regards - 140
Dogfish Head Burton Baton - 148
Dogfish Head Olde School - 151
Smuttynose Smuttlabs Ol' Grundy Humper - 155
Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog - 155
Rushing Duck Dog's Bollocks - 178
Bell's Saturn - 178
Victory Old Horizontal - 181
Two Roads 20 Ton Ale - 184
Greenport Anti-Freeze x2 - 192/352
Lagunitas Brown Shugga' - 193
Left Hand Widdershins - 194
Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Barleywine Ale - 197
Central Waters Y2K Kosmyk Charlie's Catastrophe Ale - 201
Thirsty Dog Bernese x2 - 206/352
Barrier Archibald x2 - 215/352
Kulmbacher Eisbock - 219
Samuel Smith Winter Welcome - 229
Samuel Smith Yorkshire Stongo - 229
Hofstetten Granitbock Ice - 233
Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot - 236
Weyerbacher Insanity -236
Against the Grain London Balling - 237
Otter Creel / Lawson's Double or Nothing - 240
Van Steenberge Gulden Draak - 263
De Dolle Stile Nacht - 263
George Gale's Prize Old Ale - 264
Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus - 267
Ballantine Burton Ale 2.0 - 268
Speakeasy Old Godfather - 270
Founders Curmudgeon - 271
Coronado 18th Anniversary - 274
Uinta Anniversary - 275
Hair of the Dog Adam from the Stone - 279
Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine - 285
Pretty Things Grampus - 298
Bell's Third Coast Old Ale x2 - 303/352
North Coast Old Stock Ale x2 - 303/352
Great Divide Hibernation x2 - 307/352
Great Divide Old Ruffian - 307
Stone Grainiac - 308
Broken Bow Barley Wine Ale - 311
Firestone Walker Sucaba - 312
Midnight Sun Arctic Devil - 313
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale - 317
J.W. Lees Sherry Cask Harvest Ale - 317
Port Jeff Cold North Wind Apple Brandy - 336
McEwans Scotch Ale - 337/352
Founders Dirty Bastard - 337
Cottrell Perry's Revenge - 337
Traquair House Ale - 337
Magic Hat Champ - 337
Bear Republic Olde Scoutter's - 338
Brooklyn Monster - 338
Against the Grain This Is Not a Beer - 338
Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy - 339
Duck-Rabbit Barleywine - 339
Southern Tier Back Burner - 340
Central Waters Brewer's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale - 350
Central City Thor's Hammer (bottle conditioned) - 350
Dogfish Head Immort Ale - 350
Fuller's Vintage Ale - 351
Harpoon Arctic Ale - 353
Left Hand Ambidextrous 8 - 354

I'll leave you with a little toast. Here's a cute 5oz of Left Hand Ambidextrous 8



Boy, my reactions couldn't be more different from the brewer's (?) description. The description claims that this mahogany colored Old Ale is fruity, citrusy, and earthy with a blackberry aroma and a fig backbone. To me, this one was near black, and the bitterness and light smokey quality gave it an acrid flavor. Not a very pleasing brew. Cheers!

Special thanks to:
@TongoRad
@utopiajane
@deadsincebirth
@xcdarrel17

 

Additional special thanks to:
@DrStiffington
@foundersfan1
@beermeplz
@cjgiant

 

If you search the beer database here for "apple brandy" you'll find other options.