Bold limited edition (bottle #164) penny-hued barleywine named after respected former Bowden Square Restaurant owner, Herb Mc Carthy, brings strong burgundy-bourbon wining to medicinal cherry coughdrop thrust, stewed prune spurt, and bruised orange swagger. Heavily alcoholic sugar malts invade soured plum-raisin-fig finish and astringent oxidation adds to incredible potency as murky clumped lace coats glass.

Abstruse amber-ruddy Brussels-laced dry bitter may lack richness of barleywine competition, but capacious sour mash waft, lilting spiced hop tingle, and polite mineral water flow suffice. Hints of bruised lemon, dried prune, plum, fig, and orange decorate backend.

Determined, yet diffident, copper-reddish barleywine caresses Scotch malt dryness with butterscotch yeast sweetness, floral accents, and pine-spruce density. Grapefruit, plum, maraschino cherry, and moldy orange illusions ripen chocolate liqueur finish. Highly complex, yet light on the tongue.

Clear chestnut-amber hue too tepid for robust barleywine class. Neither chewy nor gooey enough to convince discriminating aficionados. Oaken Chinook hop dryness counters brown sugared molasses fade, reclining red cherry sway, tucked-in peach-pear dash, and finishing bruised orange upsurge. Wispy spiced rum-Courvoisier lilt fails to ignite.