Cross posting this in the New Beer Weekend thread. One beer for y'all tonight and it is Maria's Garden from Barreled Souls in Maine. This barleywine is a blend of two beers aged in tawny port barrels for different time periods. 50% was in 6 months and 8 days and the other 50% blend was aged 14 months and 17 days. Beer ABV is 12.7%. Ill share more stuff tomorrow, but its been a long week comin back from the holidays, so crashing after this glass is empty. onto my review: Sampling a cellar temp 500 ml bottle poured into my trusty snifter. Beer was bottled 5/27/2024, and picked up at the brewery this past August. its been in my cellar since that day. the beer pours a dark mahogany color and no light is passing through my glass. A dense creamy beige head of about 1 cm foams up on the pour and fades to a sturdy surface covering and thin edging. This foam does leave some scattered lattice when I take a sip or swirl my glass. The beer has a bit of a coca cola appearance when I swirl. Aroma is rich toffee, black cherry notes, pipe tobacco, some brown sugar, and a bit of port flavor and red grape. No hop character and no fusol booziness anywhere on the nose. First sip reveals a medium body with very fine and gentle carbonation. Texture is smooth and the beer is very easy to drink. Flavor is sweet, but certainly not candy or cloying up front. Some brown sugar and toffee mix with red grape and port notes, plus again some sweeter black cherry note. I never get any hops and no peppery bite or warming to betray the booze on this beer. Dangerously easy to drink and very enjoyable barleywine. I wish I had several more bottles of this one, the port and barleywine work soooo well together! 4.69 in the BA DB
I had to break this one out upon hearing of the passing of Bob Weir! A liquid Nor-Cal legend linked to a Bay-Area legend!
Kros Strain/Horus collab Barrelywine #12 Sandhills Crane 24mo Elijah Craig BBA English Barleywine, 13% ABV. I rated this 4.46 last March.
This GI barleywine is a little over 3 years old now. This is aging really well. Tons of raisin, fig, and prune are most prominent. Hints of leather, dark chocolate, port, molasses, and more at the edges. Smooth booze smothering everything. Better now than fresh for sure, marvelous beer.
Had to dig deep to find a special brew to commemorate a “one-of-a-kind” person! Godspeed, Bob! Dancing Gnome x Jackie O’s “Way, Way, Way, Up” Barrel Aged Barleywine!
E gad, Tim! I wholeheartedly agree with you! This stellar collaboration between two amazing breweries is borderline indescribable!
Sensory Overlord by ISM Brewing BA 10% ABV This barleywine opens with rich aromas of toffee, toasted malt, and dried cherries. The flavor is bold and layered with golden brown toast, caramelized sweetness, tart cherry, and a touch of tawny port warmth wrapped in a full smooth body.
Altar of the Orc Lord from Modern Times. English barleywine aged in cognac and Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. 11.2% ABV. The taste is extremely fruit forward. The cognac totally dominates on the taste. Raisins, cherries, light bourbon, toffee, and prunes. Lovely mouthfeel. Medium bodied. The aftertaste is cognac all the way.
yeast cake Had the first 10oz of freshly tapped keg. Had to run and didn't want to wait for more people to order pours. They've run through 3 vintages in the past 3 days at Pasadena! Even sold out of the last OG 4 packs in one day.
