Bright berry waft amplifies sharp floral-spiced tropical fruit profile enlivening spruce-maple contour. Creamy chocolate raisin sweetness counters bitterly resinous piney hops at bold finish. Only minor astringency keeps this from sheer perfection.
Tag Archives: barleywine
(GEORGE GALE) JUBILEE ALE
Viscous dark-bronzed fig-scented barleywine celebrates Queen of England’s Jubilee with well-disguised 12% alcohol strength, luxuriant pale-chocolate malt prevalence, creamy butterscotch elegance, penetrating prune souring, and beckoning hard-candied tartness. Tobacco leaf, cigar ash, and peat moss linger beneath brandy finish aided by dried raisin undertones.
J.W. LEES HARVEST ALE (PORT CASK) 2003
SCHLAFLY RESERVE BARLEYWINE
Sumptuous oak-aged barleywine laces sinewy molasses-like caramel-sugared Scotch malt creaminess with candied apple, bruised orange, overripe cherry, peach and melon fruiting. Ester-y grape, raisin and fig souring bedecks tertiary vanilla-soaked bourbon-cognac illusions as well as distant almond-chestnut wisp.
WEYERBACHER INSANITY
Sensational oak-barrel aged barleywine allows medicinal bourbon-cognac warmth to usurp syrupy caramel malting, brown chocolate creaming, chewy toffee sweetness and bourbon vanilla sway. Toasted pecan-almond nuttiness underlines orange-bruised cherry brandy soothe. Serpentine grapefruit rind bittering, musty date-fig-prune souring and juicy nectarine-melon conflux add to overall complexity.
(TWO BROTHERS) BARE TREE WEISS VINTAGE 2000
Luxurious barleywine entry given delicate floral hop bittering to form initial thrust of fabulous turbidly copper-hued ultra ‘weiss.’ Creamy vanilla-butterscotch splurge gets clove-coriander accent and distant raisin-fig-date splotch mid-palate. At illustrious finish, pear, nectar, and banana offer benevolent fructose rush. Well done!
BLUEGRASS BEARDED PAT’S BARLEYWINE
GEORGE GALE MILLENIUM BREW
J.W. LEES HARVEST ALE (SHERRY CASK) 2003
SIERRA NEVADA BIGFOOT BARLEYWINE STYLE ALE
WEYERBACHER 1995-2007 TWELVE ANNIVERSARY ALE
(BOULDER) KILLER PENGUIN BARLEYWINE ALE
Mild auburn-cleared barleywine (with unassuming 10% alcohol volume) places tongue-snagging cherry, tangerine and grape sweetness above dry earthen hop bittering, settling to candied red apple luster. Creamy chocolate-cocoa malting centers stimulating fruited assemblage as sugarplum, vanilla and maple illusions vie for tertiary position.