Blind Bourbon Barleywine Tasting

Discussion in 'Great Lakes' started by kenm2118, Apr 16, 2012.

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  1. kenm2118

    kenm2118 Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Illinois

    Yesterday, several of us did a blind bourbon barleywine tasting.

    List of beers: 14 Total
    Mother of All Storms (2011)
    King Henry
    Abacus
    Sucaba
    Blighs
    BA Behemoth
    BA Hi Fi Rye
    BA Naked Evil
    Central Waters Bourbon Barleywine
    Central Waters Y2K
    Cup the –bals Bourbon Barleywine (Tony’s Homebrew)
    Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barleywine
    Arctic Devil
    Genesis 15:15

    The tasting was tournament style with 4 rounds.
    1st round had 7 matchups
    2nd round had 3 matchups
    3rd round had 2 matchups
    4th round (Finals) had 1 matchup
    For each matchup, we drank two beers side by side. After each round we voted a winner of each matchup.
    *Round one did have one beer that received a bye to the third round.

    The results were:
    King Henry-1st
    Kuhnhenn BBW-2nd
    BA Naked Evil and Central Waters-tied for 3rd
    BA Behemoth, BA Hi Fi Rye, Blighs –tied for 5th
    Mother of All Storms (2011), Abacus, Sucaba. Central Waters Y2K, Cup the –bals Bourbon Barleywine (Tony’s Homebrew), Arctic Devil, Genesis 15:15-all tied for 8th

    We all had King Henry in the past and it seemed fairly easy to pick it out. Same with the Kuhnhenn BBW.
    There was one mistake. MOAS actually beat out CW BBW in the 1st round but I accidently advanced CW BBW. Things may have been different but oh well.

    Overall, it was a great time with a great bunch of guys. I am a big fan of the blind tasting.
    Next up-Bourbon County Stout vertical. Can't Wait!
     
    #1 kenm2118, Apr 16, 2012
    Lukafer, iceatalamo, Gonzoillini and 2 others like this.
  2. StoutFest

    StoutFest Initiate (0) Dec 15, 2009 Illinois

    What was 4th place?
     
    #2 StoutFest, Apr 16, 2012
  3. kenm2118

    kenm2118 Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Illinois

    BA Naked Evil and Central Waters each lost in the semifinals and we didnt put them against each other. So they tied for third.
     
    #3 kenm2118, Apr 16, 2012
  4. stxSS07

    stxSS07 Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2010 Illinois

    Looks like an awesome tasting, but I don't think I'd "publish" my results if they were based off of an error that could change the outcome.
     
    #4 stxSS07, Apr 16, 2012
  5. kenm2118

    kenm2118 Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2009 Illinois

    Luckily I'm not getting graded on the "experiment" :slight_smile:
     
    #5 kenm2118, Apr 16, 2012
  6. stxSS07

    stxSS07 Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2010 Illinois

    Graded? No. Silently judged? Yes.
     
    #6 stxSS07, Apr 16, 2012
    EricCioe and cpmichael like this.
  7. raymo55

    raymo55 Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2011 Michigan

    [​IMG]

    An amazing tasting....had a great time!

    And even though MoAS didn't advance due to a minor mixup....it would have never beat King Henry or Kuhnhenn!
     
    #7 raymo55, Apr 16, 2012
  8. monitorpop

    monitorpop Initiate (0) Oct 28, 2007 Michigan

    Looks like an awesome tasting. Glad I could help out with Kuhnhenn BBW.
     
    #8 monitorpop, Apr 16, 2012
  9. Knifestyles

    Knifestyles Initiate (0) Jun 7, 2005 New York

    ISO: Cup the –bals Bourbon Barleywine
     
    #9 Knifestyles, Apr 16, 2012
  10. Treebs

    Treebs Pooh-Bah (1,728) Apr 18, 2011 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Quite the awesome list. You guys missed out on some Olde Bluehaire though! Very underrated beer.
     
    #10 Treebs, Apr 16, 2012
    MarkIntihar likes this.
  11. steebo777

    steebo777 Initiate (0) Jun 30, 2009 Michigan

    What year was the Kuhnhenns BBBW?
     
    #11 steebo777, Apr 16, 2012
  12. Knifestyles

    Knifestyles Initiate (0) Jun 7, 2005 New York

    It appears to be a 2011 judging by the photo (the foil gave it away).
     
    #12 Knifestyles, Apr 16, 2012
  13. BeRanger

    BeRanger Initiate (0) Dec 11, 2011 Michigan

    Nice work, thanks for sharing.
     
    #13 BeRanger, Apr 16, 2012
  14. raymo55

    raymo55 Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2011 Michigan

    It was a 2011
    Yeah, thanks for the extra bottle Mike!
     
    #14 raymo55, Apr 16, 2012
  15. raymo55

    raymo55 Initiate (0) Oct 3, 2011 Michigan

    And a special thanks to strangebrew321 and warbird07 for helping us score that damn BA Behemoth
     
    #15 raymo55, Apr 16, 2012
  16. kawilliams81

    kawilliams81 Pooh-Bah (1,972) Feb 27, 2009 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Awesome line-up! Had a similar Barleywine tasting recently. Is Y2K barrel aged? Thought it was just a American Barleywine?
     
    #16 kawilliams81, Apr 16, 2012
  17. youngac

    youngac Crusader (496) Jul 14, 2005 North Carolina

    I'm interested to know what you think, and which years. Just did 07-11 fairly recently. We had 4 people with some different opinions, mine was...

    1st - 08
    2nd - 07
    3rd - 10
    4th - 09
    5th - 11 (really good but fresh/hot)
     
    #17 youngac, Apr 16, 2012
  18. darklordlager

    darklordlager Initiate (0) Feb 12, 2008 Wisconsin

    Y2K is Central Waters' regular American Barleywine. Bourbon Barrel Barleywine is barrel-aged Y2K.
    2007 BBBW (first year made) had a Y2K label with a sticker that said "bourbon barrel aged" on it.
     
    #18 darklordlager, Apr 16, 2012
  19. Brew33

    Brew33 Initiate (0) Oct 24, 2007 Ohio

    Nice tasting! I'm not at all surprised to see BA Naked Evil near the top and Abacus/Sucuba near the bottom.
     
    #19 Brew33, Apr 16, 2012
    gklover1 likes this.
  20. leedorham

    leedorham Initiate (0) Apr 27, 2006 Washington

    Looks good, but I think they could have done better with the label :wink:
     
    #20 leedorham, Apr 16, 2012
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