Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2023)

from last night:

CW 2-year aged bourbon barrel barleywine

been a bit since i’ve had the 1-year (“regular”) brewers reserve bourbon barrel barleywine. this one was more bourbon forward (that’s probably obvious) and less hop-forward with a thicker, stickers mouthfeel. very good barleywine. cheers!!

 

Yeah, my initial comparison to §ucaba the other day turned out to be off the mark. It wasn’t a drain pour but it was not as good as I’d hoped (this became more evident as the glass warmed). I’m pretty sure I kept this bottle refrigerated for most of its life so that probably helped compared to a bottle sitting for years at room temp. To be fair, the label does say “best enjoyed fresh,” I just never saw that before I opened it—but for a barleywine, that disclaimer in itself might be considered something of a red flag.

 

A reach toward 2015
Yields brown sugar, fig, hop bite still strong,
Cheers all

 

Yeah, I don’t know why Transient isn’t all over these threads. @HIGHPA got me hooked on them, but this batch is from Tavour. This Bubba blend is spectacular. No f’ing around with oddball stuff. Bourbon maple BLiS barrel and Elijah Craig barrel rule the flavor profile. Hot alcohol burn.

 

Much better than the scotch barrel aged version. That one was like eating a handful of raw peat. Not sure how long you should age scotch ales, but at $20 I’m not willing to find out with this one

 

Been so tired. Worked out anyways. Calls for a

 

Found sasquatch

 

Glad the Burial turned out well Dan!
Sure, be game to try a Varsity. Da Boss and i are heading out to the Old-World Thursday for a few weeks so i will pop the Rum barrel into the fridge for tomorrow's sample.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Alrighty, pulled out the Rum Barrel edition of Town Brewing's Varsity Barleywine about an hour ago to get to the preferred sipping temperature. Onto cracking it and the review:
Nose is very nice with notes of dark fruit, baked dark bread, and a hint of rum.
Taste is very good as the very large malt base gives notes of brown sugar, raisins, and toffee. The barrel gives a hint of chocolate along with the rum barrel flavor and a warming quality with each sip. Finishes with an appropriate amount of sweetness.
Mouthfeel is full bodied, with each sip being very smooth and satisfying.
Overall, rum barrels are not great if not used properly so i went into this with some trepidation but man, this turned out to be one well done brew by the Town Brewing team! Look forward to the Bourbon Barrel addition of this! Overall score 4.43.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Alex’s Life from the veil, side project, other half, monkish, trillium, evil twin, tree house, hill farmstead, eighth state, burial, fremont, molson coors, et al.

in all seriousness, this was quite delicious. loads of barrel character. plenty of dark fruits and toffee. but also nice chocolate and vanilla notes to it as well. really tasty stuff. cheers!!