Cisco Baggywrinkle Barleywine

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 8

Cloudy and enjoyable. Doesn't really look like a barley wine to me though. It is more like a wheat. Citrus also dominates the nose, which is another characteristic of Wheat beers. I give them an A for effort.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Received in a trade with jjpm74. I've always been a huge fan of barleywines. Even mediocre ones work for me. This is anything but mediocre though. I'm surprised that this was not aged in a whiskey barrel, because I thought that it had a real pronounced whiskey-like vanilla character which was very nice. Some chewy malts, a bit of alcohol, and some tropical fruits were also present but it just couldn't escape that whiskey character. Appearance was a cloudy orangish/brown with a scant whispy head. Perhaps a more agressive pour would have had better results. Aroma was more of the same of the flavors. Whiskey, light tropical fruits, sweet malts, some brown sugar. Really a very nice barleywine. I'd love to find something like this in California.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours with an orange-amber body topped by a thick head with a good amount of lacing. It’s slightly sweet with notes of oak, vanilla and alcohol. Is this barrel aged? Full bodied and warming.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

[9/05 bottle] Poured a reddish maber color with a small, off white head that quickly diminished, leaving no lacing on the glass. Aroma of chocolate, dried fruits, sour cherries, nuts, caramel malts, green apple, toffee, vanilla, and watermelon. Taste of cocoa, caramel malts, sour cherries, more vanilla, with a fair amount of alcohol and heavy carbonation.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

07.31.05 750ml bottle on which the label touts "Limited Release" but then doesn’t list date or bottle number. How special. Mudded, nearly opaque rust-orange pour with little to no head, a surprise given Cisco’s track record of gushing bottles, etc. Aroma is pretty straight forward barleywine stuff: brown sugar, light spice, apricot jam, sugar cookie. Flavor follows suit and masks the 12% devastatingly well. Bit bland in end and to finish. Lingers with a sweet syrupy malt. Thick bodied but not sticky or slick.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

The name on this is really, really weird. Cloudy light brown color with a clear soapy bubble wash. Aroma is full of bark and alcohol soaked caramel. Strawberries soaked in bourbon and then coated in chocolate dominate the body. A sac of dried fruits and nuts briefly makes a cameo in this. A bit tart.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

An odd take on the barleywine style. A orange brownish appearance with a moderate to light head. A somewhat salty aroma if that makes sense, oranges, caramel, and alcohol. The flavor is sour with some woody notes and grapefruit. I also got some faint cherry and orange flavors. The aftertaste is very warming. Not too bad.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 9

Very cloudy amber color with smallish head. Aromas are all light. Coconut, molasses, pepper and malt. Taste is good but keeps getting better. Tastes like an old ale at first then the coconut and dried citrus flavors come together. 12% masked very nicely. Yeasty taste. Nice medium body.