Our Seasonal Offering. We honor the Harvest & Holidays each year by brewing a traditional Barleywine style ale, using a variety of ingredients. The Label, created by local artist Janis Taylor, is a folksy woodcut based on the tale of John Barleycorn in verse.
Brewed in small 10-barrel batches with Certified Organic barley malt, this crimson hued ale has a sweet caramel nose with a zesty spicy, citrus taste. It has a slight hop finish and leaves a warm, tingling sensation on the tongue. A great winter warmer!
Beer Ratings and Reviews:
[1] Review by Sap from Tucson, AZ, USA who has tried this beer once. (10/30/2008 12:44:32 AM)
"2007 Bottle; Sampled October 2008
A vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a tightly beaded, initially three-finger thick, light tan colored head. The beer is a clear amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, fully red tinged, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma is a heady mix of caramelized malt and sticky hop notes. At first notes of toffee, sticky crystal malts, brown sugar glazed grapefruit zest and tangerine are most noticeable, but soon an herbal hop notes starts to play a much more prominent role. Aromas of pine needles and a grassy herbal note become more noticeable as the beer warms. There is lots of biscuit like malt notes towards the end as well as the warm, slightly spicy alcohol character one would expect to find in a beer of this strength.
Thick and viscous feeling up front, this is balanced somewhat by a biting, herbal, green bitterness and hop astringency in the finish that really lingers on the tongue for quite some time. While there is a huge amount of malt here, the hop character is definitely the more dominant note right now. Hot alcohol flavors towards the finish seem to exacerbate the harsh hop notes. Lots of caramelized grain notes seem to mostly get drown out by the herbal hop notes and the vodka like alcohol character in the finish; at times some notes of toffee sneaks through as does some light berry notes and a touch of citrus.
This beer will definitely still age for quite some time. The hop character is still a bit rough right now and the hot alcohol notes could definitely use some mellowing out. I expected this to get better as it warmed up, but it actually got worse, more hot and more harshly hoppy. This really ended up being quite a big disappointment; it really needs at least another two years, if not five, before it might start to get drinkable."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
5/10
Overall:
5/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.1)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $0 Unit Cost: $0 per Pint
[2] Review by changeup45 from Orlando, Florida, USA who has tried this beer once. (7/13/2008 1:16:43 AM)
"2007, 10.8% abv. Pours a brown color with some amber in it, a thin head and not really any lacing. Aroma is caramel and oak with a fruit scent noticeable. The flavor for the most part follows suit, sweet caramel, a bit of alcohol spice, and finishes with a little grapefruit dry hops. Not the most complex barleywine but this is well done and better than I anticipated. "
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
8/10
Flavor:
8/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.8)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $2.99 Unit Cost: $3.99 per Pint
[3] Review by jde123 from Philadelphia, PA, USA who has tried this beer once. (12/4/2007 6:46:05 PM)
"Poured a sweet smelling amber liquid out of a nice squat bottle. No head, very sweet smelling, thick and sweet palate with a nice aftertaste. I like this barleywine quite a bit, and will get again."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
8/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.7)
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure Compared to this brewer's other beers: Not Sure
[4] Review by Stoutlover72 from Northern, California, USA who has tried this beer once. (10/23/2007 5:29:48 PM)
"I'd been sitting on this beer awhile and decided to break it out during our tailgating frenzy at the Oakland Raiders homegame vs. Chefs. Yeah, we lost but damnit we drank some good beer.
The beer really did strike me as being fairly bland. Nothing really setting itself apart from the other barleywines out there, but still was of enough quality to be drinkable. An aroma of sweet caramelly malts, fruit cocktail, a bit grapefruity and subtle molasses. Appearance was a hazy orange/caramel brown color, thin wispy head with barely any lacing. Flavor is melted caramel chews, with a subtle touch of some grapefruit. Sweet yet not overly sweet for a barleywine. Glad to have a few more bottles to finish off."
Aroma:
6/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
7/10
Flavor:
6/10
Overall:
6/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.2)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 12oz @ $0 Unit Cost: $0 per Pint
[5] Review by Phil B from Gatineau, Canada who has tried this beer once. (7/27/2007 3:16:43 PM)
"Bottle: Poured a deep brown color ale with a nice foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of sweet malt with some dry and bitter hops also noticeable. Taste is a balance mix between some sweet malt and some bitter and citrusy hops. I personally like more malt heavy barley wine then hoppy barley wine so this was not necessarily for me. Body is about average with some good carbonation and no sign of alcohol."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
7/10
Mouthfeel:
7/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.5)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
Do you want to see the rest of the reviews? Sign In or Register FREE! = BeerPals Only
Review this Beer:
You must be a member to write a review. Please sign up or log in.
(3.1)
