Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2023)

This barleywine is compliments of @DIM. Super excited to taste this one! Double Baked from Tree House. Barleywine aged in Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey barrels for one year, blended together, and then re-barreled into several different apple brandy barrels for an addition three months. It is then re-blended with a Tree of Life Rum aged in a rum barrel for 15 months. Finally, they blend in a small thread of Weizenbock that was aged in an orange bitters barrel for fourteen months. Quite the ride!

Poured at fridge temp. Zero head and it appears pretty still overall (no signs of bubbles). The nose is fantastic. Apples, toffee, brandy, slight rum, vanilla, marshmallow. Just super smooth. No alcohol detected on the nose. Overall smells mildly sweet. The nose is so great I want to just keep sniffing it!

The taste is tremendous. A lot going on here. Definitely tastes still and intense. I immediately pick up on the rum barrels. Interesting since I wouldn't think rum is necessarily a dominant barrels when combined with bourbon and brandy, but this did get aged the longest in rum barrels so maybe it does make sense. Getting nice notes of toffee, honey, vanilla, pears, apple, almonds, and a nice sweet candy. Alcohol is not detectable on the taste, but I have to think this is up around 13% (or higher) with all that barrel aging.

Mouthfeel is super smooth and viscous. The aftertaste is definitely on the sweet side, but it's a perfect amount of sweetness. Just a glorious beer! So thankful that I got to try this. Thanks, Dan!!

 

Interesting. There are definitely a few Highland distillers putting out peated Scotch. Maybe Ardmore or Old Pulteney barrels? Glendronach has a peated Scotch that could have been used I guess. I love peated Scotch, but I can't say there are many beers that taste better when aged in peated barrels.

 

Figured I would share a barleywine with y'all tonight. Ive been bouncing all over the place posting beers of different styles and places, but impy stouts and barleywines will always be my home!
This is another beer courtesy of @snaotheus and his boxes of chaos from NBS BIF #17. This is Skookum Brewing and their English Barleywine Barren Wood. This is an 11% beer and 2022 vintage. thank you for the opportunity to try this one!

onto my review:

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz can poured into my snifter. the date stamp is packaged on 11/21/2022. Received as part of NBS BIF #17.
The beer has been in my cellar since it came out of the box and Im excited to finally have a chance to drink this one!
The beer pours a dark mahogany color and rests slightly darker in the glass with no light passing through my glass.
A very tin and fizzy beige head of less than .5 cm foams up and fades to a thin edge layer quickly after the pour, no lattice when I swirl the glass, but there are some legs on the glass like a deep red wine.
Aroma on this one is malty and boozy with brown sugar, toffee, and molasses mixing with bourbon and hints of fusol heat. no real hop character on the nose.
First sip reveals a medium to thick body and very sticky texture that coats my lips and palate on each sip. Very fine and prickly carbonation shows itself in the mouthfeel too. The carbonation is also fizzy to the point that I can hear it bubbling in my mouth. Feels the part of a big barleywine.
Flavor is sweet malts with caramel and toffee mixing with some brown sugar and a big dose of bourbon. I also get some spicy black pepper on each swallow that is most likely the ABV showing through. I never get any real hop character on this beer and I find it to be quite the sipper. There is a little warming quality on the finish that shows up after the first couple sips. At 11% this beer drinks bigger than it is, but I am enjoying this tasty example of a barleywine.
4.42 in the BA DB

 

Sounds like a great one! I love what Skookum puts out!

 

Big thanks to @DIM for this one! Goose Island Small Batch 05 - a wheatwine aged for 2 years in bourbon barrels with peaches, natural vanilla, and peach flavors. Comes in at 13.3% ABV.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a very dark brown with minimal head. The nose is fantastic. Tons of toffee, subtle peaches, vanilla, figs, raisins, and a bit of brown sugar. Just lovely on the nose.

The taste is super interesting. Here the peaches really come out. They are complimented by oak, toffee, slight maple, vanilla, plums, pie, and graham crackers. Lovely! There is a touch of boozy bourbon taste there as well. Sweet, but not overly so. Cheers, Dan!!

 

I know! It's crazy given the success of their barleywine last year. What are they thinking!!??