Barleywine Suggestions

I'll jump on the bandwagon to recommend that you check out English-style barleywines first, then you can compare them to American versions to determine your preference. BBA versions have to be kept separate in your discovery process because the bourbon gives an entirely different taste characteristic to the barleywine style, regardless of whether it's English or American. (In my opinion, both types are simply delicious if they are BBA. and are inseparable in taste.)

An English-style that is available to you in Illinois is Arcadia's Cereal Killer. Give that one a try. I think it's the epitome of this version, and you may not want to try others after enjoying this one.

 

If you could trade for a Bourbon barrel aged Kuhnhenn barley wine that would be cool.Pretty tasty stuff.

 

Weyerbacher Insanity is very good. Dog Fish Head Old School also.

 

Avery Hog Heaven
and
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

 

Schlafly's Barrel Aged Barley Wine isn't too hard to find, won't measure up to the Goose Island, but well worth a go...

 

I'm just starting into BWs too. How does Victory's Old Horizontal fit into the mix?

 

Well, it depends on what you didn't like about your first one, but I would recommend a handful of what should be easily available beers:

SN Bigfoot: Pretty much the gold standard of American Barleywine. Malty. Hoppy. Agressive.
Boulder Killer Penguin: Not highly rated, but I found it to be a good, milder version of Bigfoot.
Great Divide Hibernation: An old ale, but I find it to have a lot of similarities to BWs. Less hoppy, but still big flavor. Fantastic mouthfeel.
Anchor Old Foghorn: English style. Sweet, malty, easy drinking.

 

That one's just Oak aged, but I really like it too.

 

Not widely distributed but I had a duclaw hell on wood that was pretty freakin awesome. The barrel is less pronounced so not as sweet and vanilla like as say the bcbbw or Sucaba.

 

Lakefront My Turn Chad on draft is the best barleywine I've had. It was huge, at over 12%, and absolutely delicious. Half Acre Quakerbridge was really nice too. Founders Old Curmudgeon is an old ale, but close enough and I love it. It is out now or will be soon.

 

It says April on their Release Calender, but I picked some up today

 

The only problem with using BCBBW as your jumping-off point is that anything else may be a disappointment by contrast. All of the following are East Coast beers, so I'm not sure if you can get them in the Midwest: ST Bourbon Barrel Backburner, Weyerbacher Insanity and DFH Olde School

 

Now I feel like a bit of a hypocrite for what I wrote a bit earlier. Just picked up some Clown Shoes Billionaire. Interesting, however, that they went directly to barrel aged for this barleywine without having released a "normal" version first. Curious to taste the results.

 

nobody cares about that shit. Pure ale trash.

 

Bells Third Coast Old Ale, talk about complexity!

 

LeftHand makes a pretty good one too. Forget the name of it.

 

I'm not a fan of American Barleywines at all but I like the English variety a lot. I also tend to like them more if they're barrel aged.

 

i find ba barelwines and barelyines completely different animals. im feeling your an english barelwine kinda guy.
Our Finest Regards is a must

id also try trading for king henry, very similar to bcbw. might have to build up before u trade for that tho. im not really sure what its trading for these days but theres still a lot of bottles out there

 

HOTD Doggie Claws...An American Style Barleywine that's easily accessible and absolutely delicious. Enjoy!

 

Old Guardian after a couple years is really good. I'm not a fan of fresh American BWs because the hops are almost abrasive on the palate. Pretty Things Our Finest Regards is really good too.