Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2022)

The original non-BA version? A couple years ago at a Nugget Nectar event, I put my word in with the Troegs rep for them to bring it back.

 

I don't recall seeing anything about it on their social media this year.

But back in December they released another brewery-only barleywine called Perpetual Darkness https://www.instagram.com/p/CXbk_OwAn-r/

Unfortunately I'm almost 2 hrs away from the brewery so don't get there very often.

 

I was initially happy to see that you had "barley wine" (2 words) as the thread title. Now it's not. Did a mod change it or am I crazy?

 

I love Imperial stouts, I prefer Russian Imperials over American, probably because of the hops. This year, actually last year I started buying barleywines on a regular basis, or whenever I see them. I checked both just because I really never paid that much attention.

 

I'm planning on doing a side-by-side of the Port Cask & Sherry Cask JW Lees at some point soon. They're both 2016 (fairly certain) so I'm gonna crack them open soon

 

I think Free State's Old Backus is still brewed annually. At least, I saw it on shelves in late last month.

 

I love barleywine, but it's nearly impossible finding any. As of the past two years, Sierra Nevada's was the only one I could find. It seems they are one of the many beer styles eclipsed by the haze craze. I still have one bottler of 2016 Old Ruffian in my cellar. I had one the other day and it was fantastic.

As for my answer to the question, I like either.

 

I voted English but bring them all on.

 

One can only hope that sales of SSR were strong enough to convince them to revive others?

Even if they put IRS, Double Bastard, and OG on a rotation where they staggered them so that each one was brewed every 3 years or something.

 

Old Crusty sure made Bigfoot taste like a malt bomb. At least the ones I drank back in the day.

 

Some Barleywine news. While cleaning up in the garage recently, I came across a program for Split Thy Skull IV, a Barleywine festival put on by Jim Anderson of Beer Philadelphia the Saturday of Easter Weekend. Made for some awesome family dinners where I tried not to throw up. I've had alcohol poisoning twice, once at college when I drank most of a bottle of Yukon Jack (not recommended), and at Split Thy Skull IV, April 3rd 1999. I attended 14 or 15 of these festivals, and what I remember probably doesn't add up to more than 2 hours. This particular afternoon featured what I think was my first meeting with Weyerbacher's Blithering Idiot, something I'd rather not discuss. Others included DFH Zwaanend, Yard's Old Bart, Three Floyd's Behemoth, Rogue Old Crusty, La Trappe Quad, Smuttynose Barleywine, Schloss Eggenberg Urbock and 4 or 5 others. I remember that when the taps were shut off at 6pm, I bought a bottle of Chimay Red and proceeded to pour most of it into my lap. We then went to a rather nice restaurant, Serrano's, where I threw up in the bathroom shortly after placing our orders. Thank God we had a hotel room within crawling distance.

 

I was just referring to this thread title. I don't know if it ever appeared in both forms in its country of origin before the craft era... but I'd be surprised if it did. "Barleywine" was a corruption for US legal reasons rather than personal preference even if it has somewhat evolved into preference/tradition. I don't know if Thomas Hardy's Ale was ever marketed as a barley wine even if it could be considered one.