Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2024)

Thanks, I hadnt picked up on the ROY G. BIV wax rotation.

 

Barreled Souls Savage Souls II: Electric Apple Brandy Boogaloo

Picked this up yesterday at the brewery. One of their barleywines — Bombs Over Barley, I think — aged for 13 months and 3 days in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels and then 13 months and 4 days in Laird’s Apple Brandy barrels.

It pours a murky, dark-cider brown with a fat finger of airy tan head. Decent retention for the style before giving way to a messy cap and crown. Some very modest spotty lacing, but clear alcohol legs.

Vanilla, caramel, leather, fig and apple all shine in the nose.

There’s a caramel apple explosion up front in the taste that’s somewhat cut by alcohol, leather and light earthiness. There’s, again, a hint of vanilla and fig in there, too.

It has a creamy, full-bodied feel with very tight carbonation.

Delicious. One of, if not the, best Barreled Soul offerings I’ve tried to date. Fantastic barrel quality shining through strongly and complementing the base. It was definitely the fan favorite at the brewery yesterday.

 

Classic! Love the Barleywine Trail glassware.

 

Always preferred the English style as that's where I started, and find the American too hop forward often times. Will be lamenting the loss of Old Foghorn in '24.

 

Son and I are trying a 2011 vintage J.W. Lees Harvest Ale Lagavulin Whiskey Cask. Son says it is drinkable, I am not as sold yet. Probably well past its prime. No carbonation left. Very smokey on nose and taste.

 

Yeah that's a tough one to love. Had it on cask twice, and kinda liked it the second time. The other varieties are MUCH better imo.

 

2022 Bigfoot. Definitely moving in the right direction. Much more mellowed and silky smooth. Have one left that I’m committed to aging to at least 5 years…………. I’ve been known to have commitment issues

 

Browar Fortuna - Komes - Imperial Amber Ale

This Polish beer was released to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the brewing company. It isn't sold as a barley wine, but it could be in the hands of another brewer (more on that later). This beer is 10% ABV, bottle conditioned, and made with: Pilsner malt, Munich malt, roasted malt, sugar, and various hops including Goldings for aroma.

This is categorized on BA as an "imperial red ale." It's a big pet peeve of mine how BA has helped cement the idea that an "amber ale" is a "red ale."

I'm baffled by the high number of reviews on BA for this beer that claim it's like a Belgian beer. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get that at all. To me, this feels like a super-strong English bitter. I only found the ingredients list after I drank the beer.

The beer isn't as dark as it looks in the photo. It's dark amber/light brown and extremely hazy (I don't mean hazy in the way IPAs have stolen the term)... and this haze doesn't feel like it's totally a result of bottle conditioning. The huge head feels like a result of this conditioning though. The beer is somewhat light on the palate for it's size, but it's clearly a strong beer. It wrestles between sweetness and dryness in an unusual way. For me, the most defining part of the beer is the strong herbal hop presence. I need to revisit this beer for another take.

As I had this "imperial amber ale," I couldn't help but think of the iconic Gold Label barley wine (although I've never had that beer unfortunately). 10% ABV, Pilsner malt, pale in color, sugar, dry hopped with Goldings, and high carbonation (through fermentation in the bottle in this case)... this beer seems like a comparison might not be totally off to Gold Label despite all the differences (when it was stronger, but not to any specific production recipe in the shifting Gold Label). Does this sound crazy to you @patto1ro ? I wonder what the yeasts are like that Fortuna uses for their ales and stouts.

An interesting thing about the packaging - the back label claims a 3 year shelf life and provides a chart to indicate a change in fruitiness and dryness from fermentation in the bottle. The graphic also implies a color change, but isn't clear about this. The claims seem overly simple, but it's just a beer label. My bottle was 1 year old.

 

2018 Aaron on tap in Greensboro. Sweet bourbon/caramel - was told it’s the end of the keg - definitely a muddy appearance but flavor is no worse for wear - love this one.

 

Definitely the best of the three variants and will enjoy this. However, I conclude that blonde barleywine is not for me

 

Central Waters - 3yr

Had this last night and the leftover taste that hung around most of today was better than many barleywines manage during consumption.

 

2010 Stone Old Guardian. Been in my cellar since fresh. Wish Stone would re-brew this.

 

Wow. Haven’t seen that in ages. How’s it tasting?

 

Amazingly its still fairly hoppy but its a woody/minty profile. Malt is sweet with a bit of port wine

 

I was like 8 beers deep when i write that and at the beginning atages of what i now know was a terrible flu. I wasn't myself that day,otherwise i would've chosen the BA Stout.



Joking. Their BA Stout isn't as good as their Barleywine . I think you'll enjoy it.

I thrive in Darkness.