Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2022)

Alright, cracking my can of Ol' Lifewine 2022 from Matchless. I didn't look at @DIM 's review before posting this. I'll take a look in a minute. Didn't want my judgement clouded!

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours a murky brown with a thin layer of head. The barrel immediately makes itself present on the nose. My first thought is that it reminds me of Wulver from Thirsty Dog. Very barrel forward. Toffee, raisins, plums, some vanilla, and figs.

The taste. Oh my, the taste. This is incredible. The toffee just blows this up. Red grapes, plums, figs, bourbon, vanilla, tannins, a slight nutty note, brown sugar, sourdough bread. Unlike the nose, the heat from the barrel comes across in a perfectly smooth way. I honestly thought it might be a bit too boozy after smelling it, but it is not in any way. Super well integrated beer. Lingering sweetness. Doesn't drink like it's 15% ABV, that's for sure.

Overall, one of the better BA English barleywines I have had in a while.

4.53/5 rDev +1.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

 

Alright, sounds like we weren't too far off on our assessments. Glad you liked it!

 

Wow - that's awesome that they ship to PA!

 

Man, this is great.

 

Back with another barleywine tonight. Gotta help to catch up with the imperial stout thread....which I guess I also help boost with posts. Its been an interesting day with the children all sick with what could be the flu. I remain unscathed and assume that the high ABV beers I prefer to drink simply are killing the germs that do enter my system! This is Barreled Souls ABC 2.0 barleywine. a 13.1% brew that was aged in Parkers Heritage heavy char bourbon barrels for about 1.25 years. The beer also features the addition of apple and cinnamon.

onto my review:


Im sampling this beer poured from a 500 ML bottle into my snifter at cellar temperature. The bottle is date stamped for 11/16/2021. I picked it up at the brewery after being in cold storage in mid October 2022. It has been in my cellar since its arrival.
the beer pours a slightly hazy or murky cola brown color. Light passes through only the edges of my glass. Some dense beige head of about 1 cm foams up and this foam fades to a sturdy edge layering that sticks around throughout the sampling.
Aroma is caramel and toffee mixing with a good dose of cinnamon. This is legit cinnamon, not artificial Big Red kinda smell. Just like the spice I added to my vat of cooked steel cut oatmeal this AM for breakfast. There is actually a little bit of an apple note too, I didnt expect that to carry through, but freshcut apple wedges lay behind the cinnamon. A sweeter variety of apple, not granny smith tartness.
First sip reveals a medium body with smooth texture and fine tingly carbonation. Flavor is sweet up front and through and through. I get caramel and some brown bread notes, lots of cinnamon and some light fruitiness again. No hint of hops and the booze is well hidden. This actually tastes like an apple pie. Quite a tasty barleywine, that could be too sweet for some, but I am enjoying this one. Id drink this one again, and wish I had opened it with Thanksgiving dinner as it would fit perfectly there.

4.39 in the BA DB

 

Interesting. I have bottles going back to 2005 and they have been amazing at over 10 years. Turns into a malty English barleywine. I wonder how that one was stored?

 

Man, Barreled Souls and Jackie O's just kill it. They release quite a few barleywines, and they are almost always great.

 

I am confused about which thread is most appropriate for this one! It's a blend of 2 & 3 year old barrel aged barleywine and whiskey barrel aged stout. Fantastic stuff!

 

Great discussion! I totally agree with both of you about the lack of non-BA barleywines. Bigfoot was always a favorite, and it's getting harder to find. It's amazing how many people in barleywine groups hate on Bigfoot. The consumer has slowly evolved towards a sweet barleywine.

The rise in bourbon has led to breweries using the names to boost sales. Now, how many people can pick out a specific distillery in a beer? I am a big Scotch fan, but I would not be able to tease apart different distilleries in a beer, although peated versus non-peated is quite easy. I also think barrel-aged is synonymous with high ABV, so the increasing desire for higher ABV beers may also be linked to the demise of non-BA barleywines. This is a generalization, obviously, as there are high ABV non-BA barleywines, but they do seem more difficult to find.

Now, I will admit that I love trying barleywines in different barrels. I love brandy and bourbon BA barleywines, but I also really appreciate the classic non-BA versions just as much.