Barleywine Appreciation Thread (2022)

Barleywines are favorite to age. Institution Ale Co. releases a yearly barleywine. I bought 15 crowlers of the 2021 edition (my favorite release of their barleywine so far) to age and open one a year to see how complex they get. They tend to release early in the year so I have to find them in my aging fridge and check the date and will update once I have tried the first anniversary 2021 version.

 

You must really trust their packaging skills. Here, I wouldn't depend on a locally canned crowler to "age" more than a few weeks.

 

Still as amazing as it always was / is! (Love this beer. )

 

This is Barrier Archibald. I’m drinking this now out of a Wonder Woman mug, so I’m using my pic from yesterday when I drank one from a nicer glass. Back in 2015 (I’m guessing the only other release of this beer??), this was my favorite barley wine made in my state. Back then it was 9.5% ABV, bottle conditioned, in bombers, and “pre-aged” at the brewery for a year before release ( @JackHorzempa ). To my delight, Barrier went retro and brought this beer back recently. The differences are that this current beer is 10.6%, canned (but it appears to be can-conditioned), pre-aged “a jolly good amount of months” (one would assume less than 12 this time), and had a bourbony wood aged variant.

This time around, I’m not enjoying this beer as much as I did the 2015 release. This could be due to any combination of changes to the beer, changes to my tastes, and/or the fact that my most recent interactions with the 2015 beer were with aged bottles.

I’m certainly happy to have the new release, but it’s harsher and rougher than my ideal and it’s not clicking with me. Keep in mind that I’m going to be a tough critic with this beer due to big shoes to fill… but I should look on the bright side - it’s fantastic that a brewer that has slid into IPA-mania is still willing to revisit a barley wine with nothing added to it but yeast for packaging. I give them a lot of credit for it.

Unlike me, I think @DIM grabbed a can of the bourbon variant. Let me know how it is.

 

I know ... I recall you mentioned your approval for this one in this or another thread I don't recall. Honestly thought about tagging you when I posted this. Heck of a Barleywine. I was amazed by how well this went down. Super easy drinking for a 12% Barleywine

 

Currently enjoying this local treat again
Straight up English, and quite a tribute to the style.
Cheers all

 

Not that it’s bad, but that can label is very un-Sierra Nevada.

 

Yeah, seriously.

 

This is where I fall as well. Give me a fresh English BW any day, but I cannot drink a fresh BF... 2-3 years later BF is great. I buy a 6 pack each year, toss it in the cellar, and crack into them the next year.

I can be a little picky at times though. I prefer Storm Breaker to Mother of All Storms. The extra year aging in the barrel makes MoAS too cloying for my tastes. If Pelican punched up the bitterness another 10 IBUs before barreling it would be supreme.

 

So I realized I forgot to cross post my recent post to the Cellaruary thread about drinking my last bottle of Great Divide Old Ruffian. Another great barleywine no longer brewed.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...umed-not-collected.664915/page-6#post-7450310

Now for tonight - a ten year old bottle of DFH Olde School. I have bottles of 2010, 2012, and 2016 in the cellar, went with the middle vintage. As it warms, amazingly this still has a little heat in the nose. But mostly a ton of raisin and fig, a bit of pipe tobacco. Taste is similar, fairly sweet but not cloying. The booziness is only in the smell, drinks like a "normal" beer, not a 15% abv monster. Syrupy sticky mouthfeel, carbonation is mild.

 

the most Unique barleywine I've ever had...how can you classify this as english or american? I guess i would lean more towards american but I'd love to see more brews like this and for FW to Bottle this again. I'm happy I have another and a 2016 to look forward too as the years go by

 

Pathlight Brewing has a special barleywine on tap as of last night. It may be there first. It's getting rave reviews so far, so I plan on leaving work early to go get a full pour. I don't typically see anything local to me getting rated this highly.

Pathlight Brewing's No Touchy: a 14% ABV English Barleywine aged in Russel's Reserve Wild Turkey barrel.