Beers like J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale

No beers to suggest beyond those from the style list you've already tried.

But based on my experience with English Barleywines and some aging of a few I think to get that flavor profile you're going to have to cellar some for several years.

You might want to ask what the folks in the cellaring forum think. You'll tap into a lot more experience with aging beers there.

 

If you can find some Gale's Prize Old Ale that might be worth a shot. Though, some vintages/bottles have faired better than others. Harveys Elizabethan Ale is really great but much lower in ABV. Nothing really compares to JW. I would recommend sticking to UK producers. I don't know if it's from re-pitching yeast over multiple generations, fermentation vessels, or ingredients, but I have yet to find anything stateside age as elegantly as some of the UK barleywines.

 

The J W Lees Harvest Ales are unique in the beer world. They are lovely when young, but vinous with age. Fruitcake, marmalade, always sweet, but amazingly balanced....Pouring these beers into little vessels after a big meal is always eye-opening. These beers are the definition of "a little bit goes a long way". I've really not discovered anything like them except Hungarian Tokaji.

 

Sorry to echo others, but I don't disagree with the pedestal that this beer is on. It's a treat without a good substitute. Regarding the Gale's idea above, keep in mind that that's a radically different beer in my eyes. Expect some sourness with it. Take a look at my post in this link. If you look at it and also the post below it, you can see the color change in the beer that I had that was around the same age as yours.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...re-you-drinking-now-1843.544312/#post-5714385

 

Different. I didn't like one more than the other, but I remember the older beer as having more personality. A lot of personality can be a good and/or a bad thing. For what it's worth, barley wines are the only beers that I like aged, but not all barley wines age well. After I had those old Lees, I went out to buy more. Price makes me only get them one at a time.

 

In my experience, the fresher is a bit brighter with more stone fruit, and grassy, tea-like hop character. As it ages it becomes deeper, earthier with tobacco, marzipan, cocoa while still retaining plenty of the fig, dried fruit, brown sugar character of the fresher, but being more rounded, seeming less sweet.

If I could, I'd stockpile cases of several vintages. This beer is an adventure.

 

I had a 2001, 2007, and 2014, and all of them were very different. Do they change the recipe year to year?

 

What about differences in barrel character across various vintages? Do the port/sherry/calvados flavors get lost in older vintages because oxidization tends to bring similar flavors out already?

 

I'm glad you raised this question, because the beer does vary batch to batch. I was too dumb to even consider this when I drank the beers in my earlier link.

I have no idea, but I personally prefer the regular version of this beer. I rarely feel the need to revisit any of those special versions.

 

Their pretty tasty, huh! Yeah, really nothing like them, but @Bitterbill might know.

Cheers!

 

On their website they specifically say each batch is unique. I wonder if they select just what hops and malts are of the best quality that particular harvest.

 

I'm by far no expert but I agree with @zid, the regular is the one I go with time after time. The variants are nice but more of a yeah, I had them and I've reviewed them.

 

I've only had two J.W. Lees barleywines, a 2000 vintage regular (bought and consumed in 2012) and a 2012 Calvados cask variant (bought early 2017 and consumed a few days ago). Ages aside, they were very different beers. I recall the 12 year old regular being a true eye-opener, super chewy and with amazing depth of flavor. The Calvados was delightful but, um, 'lighter' in every way - color, flavor and mouthfeel. I could only guess as to how those differences in perception should be apportioned between differences in ingredients, process, barrel character, or age.

 

To each his own - All highly rated but the lagavulin variant is my favorite.

 

Not in the top 25 of the list, but consider:

Thomas Hardy Historical Ale
Meantime Brewing Company
London, England

#42 - Homestate
Cycle Brewing

#63 The Obscure
Green Bench Brewing
(Brewed with yeast from Thomas Hardy)

All are relatively new and tasty, hopefully will get that “chewy” feel you described in time, and I’m aging each one for science - Cheers!

 

Just as a heads up to the OP, because I think it's worth mentioning these things - the beers above are cognac, bourbon, and rum barrel aged respectively. The new "regular" Thomas Hardy's isn't aged in spirit barrels though.

 

Aged JW Lees Harvest Ale is my favorite beer, hands down. It's still good fresh, but it takes a few years for those flavors to develop.

Looking beyond English Barleywines, I am also a big fan of the similar flavors you get from aged Samichlaus which is a 14% abv doppelbock. It's not quite as expensive - usually it's sold in 4-packs each winter, but a few years back I was able to buy a whole case of (24) 330ml bottles for like $110. After about 3-4 years the alcohol burn smooths out and the caramel/toffee and dark fruit flavors are top notch.