A Barley Wine for Every Day

For reasons stated earlier, the first beer was Tally-Ho.



I love this beer. I've had it a few times before. Nothing is out of whack with this beer. 3 year old import. Lovely head. It manages to be both rich and very inviting. Contender for one of the highlights, and it's just the first one.

Keeping in the import aisle, Elizabethan Ale was next.



They started brewing this beer in 1953, but it's undoubtably changed over the years. This bottle is 2 years old. I've "had" this beer once before, but I don't recall how old that beer was... I think it was probably quite old. Going back to the day I opened the old bottle - when I opened it, there was something that looked like mold under the cap. The beer was incredibly murky, with lots of solids. It tasted really off at the first sip, but the appearance no doubt helped it become an unappetizing experience. It hurt, but I had to toss it. This newer bottle was nothing like that experience. Carbonation was almost nonexistent. The beer drank like watered down cognac. Interesting at first but wore out its welcome by the end. If anybody knows how often this beer is brewed, I'd really like to know.

 

I went to the Harveys site to see if I could get any information on ELizabethan Ale. No real luck there. But I did find this:



Maybe this is called "cheeky" over there. Over here, this is called "lawsuit."

 

Coming off of the UK beers, it felt natural to start off with the one that probably kicked things off for the "craft" brewers.



Anchor is one of those breweries that you hope stays true to their roots. This mahogany delight feels like it really is the template maker for the modern US barley wine (until bourbon barrels entered the picture). (Bigfoot stills feels like an outlier to me - even today.) It would be cool if it still came in nip bottles. Note the "Barleywine Style Ale" on the label. US regulations caused concern over "wine" on the label. I believe "-style ale" was added for acceptability. I've heard that Anchor turned "barley wine" into "barleywine" for further insurance - but it would be great if someone here knew if this was actually the case. ( @jesskidden , do you know if Anchor was the first to combine these two words?) Old Foghorn is such a perfect beer name. It's England meets San Francisco in just two words... and it's seamless.

 

Our Old Foghorn posts crossed paths - thinking alike.
I'm in the minority here in that I'm not a fan of Thirsty Dog (in general). I did have Bernese once... remember it being quite hoppy.
What I wouldn't do to stumble upon an old bottle of Old Nick.

 

How could I follow up Old Foghorn with anything other than Bigfoot? From one open fermentation to another.



I remember how much I disliked Bigfoot the first time I had it. It might have been the first barley wine I ever had. Drinking it scared me off barley wines for a long time. I think it might have been Brooklyn Monster that ended that drought. RIP Monster (but I still see this beer popping up in aged kegs). The circumstances around the first time I had Bigfoot didn't help. I popped into a bar for a quick beer, and I was too uncultured to realize that Bigfoot was a dumb choice for that moment. I'm a fan of Sierra Nevada, but I'm still not into this beer even though I no longer hold the opinion that I dislike it. I know that many will tell me to age it five years. Maybe someday I will. At the moment, throwing a beer in the basement for five years isn't how I'm doing things. I still respect the classics and don't hold anything against this one. I also think that SNPA is one of the best dang beers you can get in a six pack.