Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2024)

Bigfoot is Life BA

 

There was a 2nd Dystopias beneficiary, and he is feeling mighty obliged by your kindness and you know that a box cannot be shipped only half full!

 

@Beersnake That is a nice looking bottle, Tim!
@DIM A barleywine swilling Mrs.?! A perfect mate for you Dan!

 

I'm pushing 50 and grudgingly learning to share. On occasion. Rare occasion.

 

Gosh I miss $4 Lagunitas Bombers... Cap Stout was fire.

 

Damn. This is everything you want in a massive, high end, barrel aged English barleywine. Brown sugar to the max. Caramel, bourbon, vanilla. Sticky-full mouth feel. This is as high end as it gets. Right up there with VSOJ. @DIM idk if this will still be there next time, but I’ll try to get you one. Or you can seek it out from someone else!

 

That sounds a lot like Tree of Light, another extended aging, straight up bourbon barrel barleywine from a couple of years ago. It was magnificent.

 

Hoppin’ Frog Black Friday Barleywine. A 15.5% bitter, sweet, boozy, molassesy ale. Cheers.

 

Kros Strain Barrelywine Volume 10 WilLiquors BBA English Barleywine, 13% ABV. Pours thick and blackish brown with a slight head that dissipated before I could get a picture, leaving no lacing. Aroma is bourbon and caramel. Flavor is strong caramel, bourbon, some fruitiness, moderately sweet, slightly tangy, slightly bitter, no bourbon burn. Excellent mouthfeel, overall world-class.

4.62/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

When there's a style I don't like, I make it a point to keep trying them. That got me over my dislike of IPAs, Sours, and Barleywines. This is the best Barleywine I've had, largely owing to being BBA. This is a collab with WilLiquors, a local liquor store that provided the barrels. I'm getting more tomorrow.

 

Barreled Souls Savage Souls II (homemade cold brew edition)

BiL in the morning? Hell yeah!

I love a good coffee barleywine, but they’re hard to find — at least around these parts. To meet my needs, I took a delicious BS barleywine aged in a Woodford Reserve Bourbon and Laird’s Apple Brandy barrels, and rested it on coffee overnight in the fridge and then French pressed it this morning.

It has a huge dark-roast coffee aroma. The taste is more balanced, with caramel, vanilla, coffee and just a hint of apple. The coffee bitterness plays great against what is otherwise pretty intense caramel apple sweetness in this beer.

Not something I’m likely to do often, as the coffee grounds do suck up a lot of the beer and you get noticeably less barleywine on the backend. Taste wise though, this experiment was a complete success.

 

I'm drinking a 12oz can of barrel aged Priest Prophet & King (2024) from Karben4 in Madison WI.
9.7% ABV. A blend of different barrel types. I am getting a hint of rum and cinnamon whiskey. This one is some what light duty overall but mellow and easy drinking. Smooth and balanced. Just slightly sweet overall. ABV is well hidden There is a micro hint of maple & brown sugar. I might do a review in the future as I have more cans. A good beer.

 

Received a 16oz can from @beersnake1 via trade on 3-13-23. 2022 edition.

Nose is awesome as i am getting caramel, vanilla, and Heath Bar.

Taste is an eye opener as there is a whole lot going on. From the huge malt base i am getting toffee, maple, and brown sugar. The wet barrel imparts a warming heat, yet the whiskey flavor is well incorporated leaving a nice touch of vanilla on the back end which finishes very balanced after getting tons of char until the palate acclimated. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, soft and smooth.

Overall this beer gives the imbiber a lot to contemplate a whole lot of goodness. Tim, thank you so much for sending this along! Rated 4.42 overall.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Hmm, just copied pasted from my review so may have clipped the 1 off as unintentionally.
Just looked the brewery up and it turns out Da Boss and i spent a timeshare week just west of Matchless in Ocean Shores back in 2019 but for whatever reason they did not turn up on my brewery finder radar. Not sure we will get back up that way but 'Ol Lifewine is worth seeking out!
Cheers Tim!

 

Glad you dropped it, I always thought it was redundant. Everyone knows there can only be one beersnake!