Best Barleywine for drinking immediately

pretty things, Our Finest Regards

 

FFF Behemoth, one of the best beers, barleywine or otherwise, I've ever had, period.

 

Bigfoot it is. Amazing fresh. It pops with hops and deep malts...without being a boozy mess.

 

I've had lagunitas olde gnarleywine fresh and ~2 years old. It was amazing with some age on it!

 

This list with 1 change
sucaba

old foghorn Mother of all Storms

insanity

 

English-style ones

 

I 2nd this. Also, Central Waters non barrel aged barleywine, Kosmyk Charlie Y2K Catastrophe Ale

 

Another vote for Ole Ruffy.

 

Yep, still available just about everywhere here.

 

Awesome. Enjoy.

 

Shit. Any of 'em. But that's just me.

I know there are those who like to age 'em... I lack the discipline and the storage space. Mostly the discipline.
With that said, I'd say that Old Ruffian and Bigfoot leap to mind as the sort that most would folks drink right away without thinking about aging. Real good stuff, BTW.

 

Sucaba, Blithering Idiot, Insanity, Old Ruffian, Old Numbskull, Old Foghorn, and Monster all are on top of my list. Flying Mouflan needs to settle a little for my tastes, as does Hog Heaven. Another cool and rarely known on is Huvila's Arctic Circle, a Finnish beer with juniper twigs. Very cool and great fresh.

 

Bigfoot, Old Ruffian, and Uinta Anniversary Barleywine Ale is really awesome fresh.

 

Dogfish Head Olde School....

 

Southern Tier Backburner and Bells Third Coast Old Ale are the first two that come to mind

 

I would say BA Bigfoot and regular Bigfoot should not be consumed immediately... If I wanted hoppy I'd drink an IPA. Barleywines should be sweet, not hoppy. I'm sitting on my BA Bigfoot for a while and hopefully the hops will fade and leave a truly good Barleywine. Just my 2 cents.

 

Cant believe I'm still the only person who has said Lower De Boom.
Seriously this stuff is great.
Great in that "No, Ossifer, I'm not drinking, this here is an energy drink"
perfect for pre-gaming or tailgating

 

glad you like it, though myself i couldn't disagree more.

i think fresh olde school tastes like cheap vodka mixed with cheap grape juice. 5~ year old olde school tastes like a better barleywine than all the others listed in this thread.

it sounds like nerdism / fetishism / superstition, but it's hard to overstate how good time is to olde school. the aged bottle i bought from the DFH brewpub @ rehoboth (my first beer of the night no less) was one of the best beers i've ever had.

(incidentally, i later moved on to the craft spirits they make on premises and serve at the rehoboth brewpub... amazing value, amazing flavor. i want to spend more time in rehoboth)

 

Bigfoot, dammit!