Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2025)

Nice! You gotta love when aging moves a beer towards your own personal preferences...

 

11 Year Barleywine from Cellarmaker. 14.8% ABV.

From the brewery:

After blending together 24 month bourbon and rye barrel aged munichwine with 18 month bourbon aged barleywine, we roasted up 400 lbs of pecans and infused them into the blend. That’s 2 lbs of pecans per gallon! Our talented brewers then added a pound per barrel of Madagascar vanilla bean and a touch of cinnamon to create a boozy liquid pecan roll!

My thoughts:

The nose is super nice. Not really getting any cinnamon, but the pecans and vanilla are evident. Caramel, bourbon, and rye spice even things out. Also picking up notes of pie crust, brownie batter, and lemon cream pie filling.

The taste is really nice. The cinnamon comes through a little bit here. Almost like a ginger snap cookie. Vanilla, chocolate, pecan pie, caramel pudding, rye, and bourbon. What an interesting blend this is. The adjuncts are there, but they don't monopolize the outcome. Of everything, I would say the pecans are the most noticeable. A touch of raisin comes through as well. Really nice take.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied, and the aftertaste is pecans, toffee, and vanilla. The ABV is absolutely not coming through. It's hard to believe this is almost 15% ABV....until you drink half the bottle. Excellent stuff.

 

Really enjoying this 2023 Mother of all Storms from Pelican. 14% ABV. Loads of bourbon, burnt toffee, and dark fruit.

 

Sure, I'll have another. John Barleycorn Barleywine Ale from Mad River Brewing in Humboldt County, California. 9.8% ABV American barleywine. 2016 bottle. Tasting great. Definitely reminds me of a Bigfoot. Hoppy, caramel, pine, big malty notes, plums, apricots, and raisins. Lovely.

 

How's it going barleywine lovers? I'm drinking L'Apothicaire Brasserie in Quebec. An English barleywine without anything added. 10% ABV.

Poured at fridge temp. Pours a nice opaque orange with a thin layer of off-white head. The nose is really smooth. Caramel, apricots, slight lemon, biscuits, malts, marmalade, plums, and a small hint of maple. Lovely.

The taste is really nice. Wheat, oak bitterness, pepper (especially on the aftertaste), chewy toffee, orange, plum, slight leather note, slight rye bread, and a hint of clove.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied. Quite dry. Really enjoyable beer overall.

 

One of the best barleywines I've ever tried. Truth in Time from Private Press. A triple barrel-aged barleywine. 19.4% ABV. Most aging was in Wild Turkey rye barrels.

Poured at fridge temp into a glencairn. Pours a very dark brown. The nose is huge toffee, maple doughnut, bourbon, cinnamon bread, figs, and vanilla. Lovely.

The taste is absolutely insane. Might be my favorite BA barleywine on the taste. Bursting with caramel, bourbon, vanilla, figs, raisins, rye, light chocolate, maple, and a hint of brown sugar. Wow. This is so smooth. Can't believe the ABV is this high.

The mouthfeel is medium bodied. The aftertaste is caramel and bourbon. Lovely.

 

Fantastic beer! I forget, do they always release this or is it once per year?

 

I’ll look out for it. I’m curious if it’s American or English style.

 

Nice, Tom! I have enjoyed most of Burial's stuff and I'm sure this was awesome. Cheers!

 

Barley Wine from Brasserie Mille-Îles in Quebec. Categorized as an English barleywine on Untappd, but I'll revisit below. 9% ABV.

The nose is wonderful. Werther's caramel candy pops first. Also getting some figs, apricots, and a touch of plum. A hint of maple and perhaps the slightest note of citrus peel.

The taste is really good. I see that Untappd has this categorized as an English barleywine, but now I'm second guessing that. It is a mix between American and English, but I almost feel like the citrus peel bitterness is stronger than the malty notes typical of an English barleywine. I'm going to go with hybrid! Nice fruity notes are there, along with a leathery taste. Slight pepper spice as well.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the aftertaste is more on the hoppy bitter side of things. Great barleywine overall.

 

It would actually be kind of interesting seeing you swimming around in a pool of barleywine...do it!