Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2023)

This beer is unique. I really like it. The cherry scent is strong, but the cherry flavor blends in well.

 

Nahh the oldest I had was only a year old and it still tasted pretty much the same lol. It's not that I don't enjoy them but I tend to prefer the sweeter leaning English Barleywines vs the Americans. I wonder how close an aged Bigfoot comes to English

 

Oh man, how kind! Sending you a message rn

 

Side Project M.J.K.

cheers!!

 

Damn man, you didn't have to flex that hard!

 

Hey Dan,
I had Cellar Cuvee 1 a couple of days before you did but was on the fence about posting it but since you are the leader of the "barleywine hounds pack" i am now compelled to post a couple of hybrids! So, from my Cellar Cuvee review which i rated it a 4.45 Overall:

Nose is very nice with notes of leather, vanilla, and a touch of bourbon. If i closed my eyes i would say this was a Firestone Walker BA brew!
Taste is very nice as the blend lends a nice tame malt base not heavily roasted in which the barrels impart notes of bourbon, vanilla, and fig. Finishes nicely balanced from the barrel with no hint of overt sweetness.
Mouthfeel is medium to heavy bodied and very smooth.



Today, i am finally getting around to enjoying Casita's Something So Sincere. Wow, what an interesting brew. A bit on the sweet side but a lot of good stuff going on. From my notes which i rated this a 4.18 Overall:

Nose is sweet with large fruity malts dominating.
Taste is a huge malt base that gives you a light touch of roasted malts, dark fruits, some vanilla from the bourbon barrels and a slight sour tang from the port barrels. Finishes a scootch sweet but in the manner of an English Barleywine.
Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied and very smooth.
Overall a unique take on the barleywine and imperial stout styles, kind of in the style of Firestone Walker Anniversary series but with the additions for their own special touch. Check this out if you are up for a taste adventure!!

Cheers!
Tom

 

Yes. It is amazing.

 

it’s only a 2oz pour

 

2022 East End Brewing Gratitude, canned 1/24/22 so just about a year old. I've had it in the fridge since I picked up a 4 pack at the brewery back this summer, since I enjoyed the fresh hops on this. Still a nice combo of rich caramel malt flavors and dank hops

 

Drinking a 2014 Anniversary Alesmith Decadence. Smells terrific. Tastes better as it warms of cherry and tobacco. Perhaps a little too much age but still quite pleasant.

 

This says it's an American Barleywine, doesn't taste like one...tastes like a great old English barleywine, not to sweet, thick with a little bit of booze, fruit, dark chocolate. i might get a fire goin and like light my pipe

 

3.68/5 rDev -11.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.25

2017 vintage - poured from a 12oz bottle into a snifter.

Clear fulvous liquid with a fizzy whisper of foam that is quickly silenced. Nearly still, no lacing, though the tears leave a viscous even sheen along the sides.

Maple sugar, with a wave of stewed fruit and faint tobacco in the nose. Focused and potent yet fugitive/fleeting.

Unctuous, chewy, spirit-heavy, woody palate entry - burnt sugar, fudge, and peppercorn unfurl into the lumbering dry finish. Vanilla and maple are present, but there is a medicinal savory edge to everything with leather, dandelion greens, and brandy notes. Very distinctive and unusual.

Medium bodied, warming, a bit sticky.

Singular, befuddling, and lingering.

 

I love Barleywines and personally enjoy them any and all which ways - fresh, aged, English, American - except for ones that have flavor additives and barrel-aged ones as to me, they can detract from what I enjoy about all the subtleties the malt and hops bring to the style but YMMV.
I've currently been enjoying Breakside's Life series as each volume uses a different maltster and blend of malts and the two (1 & 2) I've had have been fantastic examples with the first bringing a lot of nice dried dark fruit notes, tobacco, and light fruitiness to the table where as the second is chock full of varying heated/carmelized sugar notes that span from toffee to molasses to piloncillo and even brought a little chocolate to the table as well.
I've been waiting with great anticipation for 2023 Bigfoot to drop around here and I always enjoy that beer fresh as I prefer it that way plus my ability to sit on beers and age them sucks quite frankly so the few aged ones I've had were purchased already with age on them. Cheers!