Barleywine Tasting - Need your input

I don't understand how you could possibly say that. I didn't find it to be very hoppy at all.

Leave it in, dude.

 

I don't know how you do tastings in Massachusetts, but in Michigan you always wind up with more beers than what is necessary. It's usually @raymo55 fault, he turns every tasting into a shitshow, every tasting in the entire state.

So no, you do not need more than 7, but tastings are not about what you need.

 

Definitely MOAS. I recently had BCBBW and KH side by side and I would recommend not having something else between them just to get a good comparison. I never had KH "fresh" and like BCBBW better.

 

Get a BBBW from kuhnhenn. I'd put that up against any of the beers mentioned.

 

Well it isn't IPA hoppy but....well, actually, it is IPA hoppy. Central Waters BBBW is 104 IBU's. It will stick out like a sore thumb in that lineup, particularly if you have it alongside something like Bourbon County Barleywine or any of the J.W. Lees variants. I would only include it in this tasting if you plan on having it last as a kind of hoppy pick-me-up, something to contrast all the sugar that was just consumed. Have it earlier and all subsequent beers will be much duller due to palate fatigue.

 

Are you maybe thinking of CW Y2K (Cosmyk Charlie's)? Def hop foward like Bigfoot, but cellared by them for a year (not barrel-aged at all). Takes another year in our own cellar for the hops to mellow.

Years ago this CW BBBW was literally a barrel-aged version of Y2k, but I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that they changed the base BW recipe around 2012. They use the new "base" bw in other one-off barrels (local restaurants often supply them with maple syrup or cocktail barrels) if I'm not mistaken.

CW BBBW might seem hoppier than other BA BW's because it has slightly less body and FG. BCBBW for instance, is a sweet bomb so the hops get overpowered completely.

 

I might call it a bourbon beer tasting I would consider including bourbon-barrel aged beers in other strong ale styles. Scotch ales, IIPAs, Imperial reds, etc. Some specifics, and some that I didn't see mentioned-

Founder's Backwoods Bastard, Doom, and Bolt Cutter
Ballast Point BBA Tongue Buckler
Uinta Cockeyed Cooper
Boulevard Rye-on-Rye
Stone Bastard-in-the-Rye

 

You need some Deschutes Mirror Mirror. That and Dry Dock's Blighs are my 2 faves

 

North Coast Old Stock - get the cellar reserved if you want to keep it barrel-aged stuff.

 

Already mentioned, but one that should be easy to find and cheap is Uinta Cockeyed Cooper. Also BA Bigfoot if you can find it.

 

I'm surprised no one has suggested BA Bigfoot. I know it's a big huge whale these days, but since most of the others are barrel-aged, if you have one or can get one, it would make this tasting epic. And I second MOAS.

 

Central Waters is my favorite of those, hands down.

 

If you don't have sebago single batch bbbw in the mix you better get your head outta your ass! No , seriously though......it is the best one I've had, and I've had a bunch.

 

Some others that are a bit harder to get but fantastic are

Alpine great
COAST old nuptial
Mirror mirror 09

And I'll have to second on the
Blighs
Moas

And I'll as straight jacket too

 

I agree with Arctic Devil. I don't think it would be too hard to trade for.

 

Thomas Hardys

 

FWIW- sorry to report, but I just opened one of my 2013 Insanity bottles, and didn't have the best results:
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...u-drinking-now-623.192288/page-8#post-2564134

 

Already mentioned, but you can't go wrong with Insanity. Very underrated for an easy to find BW that ages like a champ.

 

Never had Cosmik Charlie but CW BBBWA isn't hoppy. Yes, there's a little hop flavor in it, but my take was sweet without being cloying.