BA Barleywines without a non-BA version

Well there’s your problem. Great barleywine is perfect for sitting alone by the fire, late at night, muttering dang and blast to oneself, perhaps shaking a fist (gently at that hour) to all the barbarians and heathens at one’s door.

 

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find this (at least partly) comical myself.

 

Yep, the Mash series.

 

I think Perennial's Vermilion is an absolutely fabulous (English-style) Non-BA Barleywine (never tried the BA version, nor do I feel the need to). But one issue I have is that it costs almost as much as a BA Barleywine.

I have the same problem with their Coffee Imperial Stout Sump. For sure, a delicious beer. But I can get similar & cheaper from my local microbrewery (Cellarmaker's Imperial Coffee & Cigarettes, which is nothing to sneeze at!)

 

While I was joking, yours was way better!

 

Pelican does not bottle Stormwatcher's Winterfest, the base for Mother of All Storms, anymore. They're both great but Stormwatcher's is really quite fantastic. Of course it is annually on tap as a seasonal release in Pacific City and can be found elsewhere, too, but I think most people just don't actually enjoy the style enough for them to see the point in bottling it.

And I know what you mean. I would rather just enjoy the base beer for what it is than drop $15 or more on a booze bomb bba beer. However, I think that for some people it's a prestige, going-all-out thing, where they have to get a really boozey, overwhelming, decadent beer because they find that fun or whatever. It's kind of a yuppie thing is what I'm saying, essentially.

 

I first noticed it with the Coconut variant. Oh man, that beer was so delicious.

 

Great Lakes does have a non-BA barleywine, but it is only kegged.

 

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure they do.

I know Side Project is Cory's creation. Shared is everything brewed in that brewhouse by his other two brewers. I've heard Cory refuses to do anything outside of sours and barrel work, which would explain the discrepancy. Still, I would have thought there would be a base beer on tap at some point. I don't pay very close attention to their releases schedule and what they're churning out now days.

 

Blast. I was hoping to try Stormwatcher's Winterfest at some point.

Do they offer crowlers?

Mother of all Storms remains one of my top beers of all time (maybe my top). It's something I'd love to acquire more of, but I've been focusing on drinking fresh vs. stocking up and cellaring.

 

You're not alone. I haven't gotten to visit many regular/BA barleywine pairs, but I almost always prefer the BA version. BA barleywines are the treasures of my cellar, even more so than stouts. I'm guessing there is something to be said about a high ABV beer mellowing in barrels, especially for American Barleywine styles which are sometimes just hopped too much (sometimes hopped enough to be renamed as an IPA, *cough*Avery*cough.)

 

I bet there are some old bottles still around! I'm not sure. The old bottles I had were all the more delicious due to the muting of the bitterness. When I had it fresh at a beer bar it defo tasted more bitter, and more like American barleywines, but richer and more malty and whatnot. I guess that they used to use both English and American hops varieties in the recipe. Maybe they still do. I actually don't know. I found an older write-up about Stormwatcher's and it listed a bunch of English hop varieties (for aroma, I assume) followed by Magnum and Glacier in the recipe. But when I looked at the write-up on their website for Mother of All Storms, which is after all based on Stormwatcher's, I saw that it only listed Magnum and Glacier hops among the ingredients.

Sadly, I do not think you could get a crowler of Stormwatcher's. I have the impression that not every beer on tap at the Pelican pubs is available for growler/crowler fills! If this is the case, then Stormwatcher's would likely not be available, just more popular ones like Kiwanda Cream Ale.

 

All Side Project beers spend time on wood (either barrel or foeder). Some of the Shared beer's are Cory's recipes as well (pretty sure Vibes is the base that he used for D3, and in other Derivation blends). The other good example of this is Saison Nouveau, which is Saison du Femier but aged in stainless, not wood.

So if they did the non-BA base it would show up as Shared; unfortunately no Anabasis base beer has popped up yet, just the previously mentioned Safe Terminal.