Barrel aged appearance?

I drink a fair bit of BA stouts and I couldn't tell you. Maybe less head?

 

I've never seen that in a review and, if I did, I'd stop reading it because it would become immediately clear that person has no idea what they're talking about. You can't tell that a beer has been barrel-aged by appearance alone. Ridiculous.

 

I have no idea. But it is amazing how many people believe everyone is out to screw them.
Appearing barrel aged? What abv are these beers being reviewed?
Because, If a brewer is going to put any sort of extra work into making something. They are going to be upfront and tell you that they did a bunch of extra work in making something. I know I wouldn't waste the extra time it takes me to blend something unless I was going to tell you that I blended it. Any time I buy a beer that has barrel whatever near it. I read the label. It tells me. We blended this barrel with this barrel for this reason. Or, we blended it with our regular to give it some of that barrelly goodness without overwhelming the original idea. All of that takes extra effort. Planning. Coordination. Time. Etc. That's not going to go unmentioned. Sorry.
My best guess is... They must mean legs. Not everything barrel aged is going to be big enough to achieve that. Plenty of barrel aged things will never show legs because they just won't. For example. The 5.3% stout we barrel aged at the first brewery I worked at was never going to show big sexy legs, no matter how hot the barrel it came from was. We could get some stickiness to the glass with our strong ale, but again at its 8% abv starting point. That barrel had to taste like fire for that beer to show any sort of tearing up.

 

I've read this once in a review, and have heard it a couple of times during shares. Actually, it wasn't that they could or couldn't see the barrel aging. It was simply that the person either couldn't taste the barrel presence or, in the cases of the shares, the barrel presence wasn't as pronounced as they would have liked. At least this has been my experience. I sincerely hope that any BA isn't stupid enough to believe they can tell if a beer has been barrel aged just by appearance.

 

By appearance only?
I don't think that's possible.
If I came across that I would completely disregard the entire review, if I even continued to read it, which I would do to see what other statements would give me a good laugh.

 

That's a new one... never seen anyone on write that on here...

 

Other than a reduced head, I can't think of any appearance factor...unless oak chips were floating around...lol.

 

Except from the foam, maybe a bit more "translucent"
The barrels may extract some of the colour

 

I have no idea. Interesting thought processes though.

 

i would think most of the instances you've caught don't mean literal judgement based on sight appearance. for your purposes those are probably poorly used or placed terms.

keep in mind, from what i notice when folks try to provide reviews many try to avoid using the same words a thousand times. so instead of repeating "Tastes", "Smells" they might substitute things like "Appears to be" "Looks like" etc. as a substitute.

 

Hey, at least its a review that is trying to say something about the beer. How many have you seen that say nothing about the beer but say everything about the reviewer just to get to the minimum character number. here's one that only took me one minute to find "Guinness is my go to beer. Tried hundreds of others but this is my favorite. For me it's a perfect beer. I'm tired of crap IPAs and craft beers. Stick with a winner. Drink Guinness."

 

"Sexy Legs"? .....You just made beer sound sexy.

 

How does barrel-aged beer look? I don't know, a little weathered, perhaps a grey beard? A bit wooden on the outside? But naw all I've ever seen with my barrel-aged stuff is a reduced head, just about what half the people here are sayin'. Barrel aging rarely does much for the actual color, except perhaps maybe aging in a wine barrel, usually red with a not-so dark beer. I once had a Saison aged in Pinot Noir barrels and it did seem to provide a reddish tint to the beer.

 

I can spot a barrel-aged beer every time. Says it right there on the label.

 

Let's quote that one. I bolded it even.

 

Maybe, maaaaybeeee, the color might change a little bit, depend on the beer, and the type of barrel used. Say a Saison aged in a red wine barrel might pick up a little, teensy bit of color. Other than something like that, I think anybody who says they can see barrel aged beer is dumber than a box of rocks.

 

Taste is what comes through in barrel aged, forget about the appearance. Just had Schmaltz's Circum Session out of Clifton Park, NY. Unique tart pomegranate paired with rich barrel aged flavor, perfectly complementary.