Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2023)

I’ve been debating whether to open another barleywine today after drinking two 22oz bottles yesterday and another very strong beer on Thanksgiving Day. Then decided, fuck it, maybe opening this special local beer will help the UW Huskies beat the WSU Cougs. Cheers!

 

You heard the man

 

I don’t think I’ve had any peach(ed) barleywines yet. But it seems imminent now.

Last night’s selection:

Wild Mind Ales - Terror Bird, apple brandy barrel aged American style barleywine.

Well, the regular one was super highly carbonated with very fine bubbles resulting in a creamy head that really welcomed those first sips. This is entirely flat (pity bubbles shown), even when poured more aggressively to try to summon whatever might be hiding. So, that’s different. Strong apple aroma, but just really hard to compare anything after that.

 

Half Acre/Revolution On & On Part 2 (English Barleywine brewed with rye and aged for 15 months in a blend of Willett Rye and Willett Bourbon). Rolos and Sugar Daddies candy, along with raisin, drippy caramel, big rye spice, toffee, some fig and prune, creme brûlée, rye whiskey and bourbon spirit, charred oak tannin, some vanillin. Full body. Creamy, soft, slick, sticky. Even after over 2 years aged, this is exceptional. Wouldn’t expect anything less from these two breweries. Wish I had more cans! Top shelf stuff.

 

Central Waters has Peach Brandy Barley Wine at the taprooms now. I have not tried it yet., but have some on hand,

 

Just saw this and thought it might have been addressed to me. Beer was great and it certainly didn’t hurt—Huskies won by a FG with about 5 seconds left. Great game, either team could have taken it.

 

Barreled Souls ~ Dickel's Cabin
A new experimental barleywine, aged in George Dickel 12 yr old barrel for 12 months and 24 days Which results in an exceptional Barleywine BA
Shout out to @Beersnake1

 

I'm glad you could enjoy it twice!

 

Cross post from NBW:
Beastly by Edmund's Oast
Thanks to @CarolinaCardinals for this one.
Pours a golden hue with hints of amber peaking through as well. Light fluff rises nearly 2 inches and tapers off to a thin sheet. Slight lacing.
Nose is definitely calling out, 'I'm hopped." A nice resin and pine note kicks off just before the malt.
Wow, I am liking this. Not a lot of American barleywines out there. And I am liking this one. It has a solid foundation of malt: caramel and buckwheat. The hops are omnipresent, firm, but not overbearing. Again, resiny, piney, and a hint of orange zest.
Mouthfeel has decent heft, light carb, and a smooth, dry, bettering finish.
3.96/5 rDev +0.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

 

Wow nice pull and nice win. How was it? We recently moved, and our direct neighbors' son is a freshman at UW and they've gone all out for the football team. I started watching them a little bit because of this, and man, they have never been in a boring game! I'm hoping they have a watch party for the Oregon game on Friday and invite us over again

 

It was really good, lots of toffee, bourbon, and vanilla. I like pretty much anything Fremont puts in a barrel. I also have bottles of Brew 4000, 6000, and 7000 (somehow missed some of the others)—maybe I’ll have 4000 with the game Friday.

Watching the Huskies has been wild, reminds me of when I moved here in the early ‘90s when people were more interested in the Huskies than the Seahawks. I don’t think they’ve ever been this good before, in spite of a few self-inflicted unforced errors (the player who got an interception only to lay the ball on the 1 yard line because he was so excited about his end zone celebration comes to mind). It’s pretty crazy.

 

At first I rolled my eyes at the specificity of bothering to advertise the 24 days, but then it got me wondering about the realities of other brewers just stating "aged for 1 year" instead. I wonder how much leeway brewers take (or can take) in this department. Do brewers actually/typically stick to a rigid schedule of removing beer from barrels on the 365th day regardless of how it's doing or brewery logistics? If not, would a brewer state "aged for 1 year" if the beer sat in barrels for 340 days? Maybe it's typical for brewers to use the convention that 1 year means at least 1 year. I never really gave this much thought before.

 

It really isn’t that far from PA… ducks