Barleywine suggestions?

My favorite style. BCBBW is the ultimate example but there are so many good ones.

 

Sierra Nevada Big Foot... Can't go wrong...

 

Love BA English barleywines. Sucaba, BCBBW and Central Waters bourbon barrel barleywine CW labels it American but I found the hop flavor to be very mild) as mentioned before are my favorites as well. If you have access to Central Waters distro you simply cant beat it for the price. I got a 4-pack of weyerbacher Insanity and I dont know if all my bottles are infected or what but I found it to be completely awful!

 

A lot of great ones on here. I'd add Victory Old Horizontal and Great Divide Old Ruffian.

 

Can't forget Lagunitas Gnarlywine, great beer at an even better price.

 

If you are into hops you will love Bigfoot fresh, but set a few bottles aside for next year, so you can try them side by side. Also Great Divide Old Ruffian, Victory Old Horizontal, and Lagunitas Old Gnarly Wine all on the hoppy side, English Anchor Foghorn and Flying Dog Barleywine. I prefer American, shit almost forgot Stone Old Guardian.

 

Sucaba is relatively easy to get your hands on via trading and is IMO the best barrel aged english barleywine for the price. I personally don't care for American barley wines as they are far too hoppy for the amount of malt that is used in them.

 

I completely agree with trying SN Bigfoot as a first barleywine! But be careful. My first night trying Bigfoot was awesome, then three hours later, a nightmare as I was unfamiliar with the higher alcohol and was sloppy drunk.

 

I liked Heavy Seas "Below Decks", but I don't think it's in production anymore. Among our group, Brooklyn's "Hand & Seal" has taken it's place.

Love Curmudgeon & Third Coast as well.

 

English-style:
Brooklyn Hand & Seal
Firestone Walker §ucaba
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
Weyerbacher Insanity
Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot
Avery Samael's
Deschutes Mirror Mirror

American-style:
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Bell's Third Coast Old Ale
Rogue XS Old Crustacean
Uinta Cockeyed Cooper
Dieu du Ciel Solstice D'hiver
Southern Tier Oak-Aged Backburner
Epic Barley Wine
COAST Old Nuptial

Old Ale:
Founders Curmudgeon
North Coast Old Stock
Great Divide Hibernation
Cigar City Warmer Winter Winter Warmer

 

I had some barely wines when I was first getting REALLY into craft and HATED them. Had pretty much given up ever liking them. A few years ago I was in Chicago and it happened to be craft beer week. Went to a bar that had Behemoth on draft... WOW! It had probably been 5 years since I had a barley wine and I could not believe how much I enjoyed it. Dove headfirst back into the style and it is now my favorite style. If you don't like it initially, you are not alone. But don't be afraid to give barley wines another chance at some point in the future. I think it is pretty common not to like barley wines right off the bat since they are so huge and, especially American barley wines, can be really aggressive.

If you can find a bottle of Behemoth I would start there, seemed to work for me. For American bws you should be able to find Victory Old Horizontal, Lagunitas Olde GnarlyWine, and Avery's Hog Heaven around pretty easily right now. I second whoever said Clown Shoes Crunkle Sam too.

For English bws Weyerbacher Insanity should be around but I LOVE Bourbon County Barley Wine. I will be so sad if they ever stop making it. The 2013 version is drinking amazingly well right now.

 

Forgot to mention a few others of my favs:

Goose Island - BCBBW
Pelican Pub - Mother of all storms
FW - Double DBA

 

DFH Olde School

 

Love Olde School BW. This year's is even good fresh. But at a year it is fantastic.

 

I really love barley wines. Definitely one of my favorite styles. I think Hog Heaven from Avery is a great one that is pretty easy to find. When I lived in Fl, it was regularly available. Its a nice hoppy american style, but not as aggressive as Big Foot.

 

Barleywines may be my favorite style, as they (at least American ones) often walk a line between really hoppy and really sweet beers, and I like that multidimensional quality. There's of course variance in individual examples, but in general English ones will be very sweet and malt-oriented while American ones will have a much greater presence of hops and bitteness along with the maltiness. I find that some American barleywines even border on tasting like malty imperial IPAs.

Everyone's already named a ton of really great ones. For American style, I echo those who have recommended Avery Hog Heaven, Stone Old Guardian, Old Ruffian, and Bigfoot. For English, I would go J.W. Lees Harvest Ale or Mirror Mirror.

And though they're probably hard to track down for you lower 48ers, I have to throw in a recommendation of Midnight Sun Arctic Devil, Alaskan Barleywine, and Anchorage Brewing A Deal with the Devil. All are excellent Alaskan ones!

 

Anyone know where to get the central waters BBBW in Chicago suburbs? Checked two Woodmans and a binnys and zip.

 

I'm casting my vote for Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, it should be available in Florida and its price is excellent for the quality.

 

Came and gone over a month ago i'm afraid to say. Distro to IL was much more limited this year - most Binnys got 1 or 2 cases at best. I imagine there is still some to be had more in central WI closer to Amherst (where the brewery is) but otherwise, I haven't seen any for about a month down here. You might get lucky on beermenus but otherwise a trip up to WI or a trade would be your best bets.

 

2013 Old guardian by stone was my first and I have been hooded ever since.