Klein Duimpje Erik de Noorman

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

Shine on you crazy diamond .. Pours a dark golden tan .. low creamy white head .. stable lacing .. some xmas cake and caramel in the nose .. interesting .. quite balanced .. easy to drink .. a nice brew but didn't live up to my expectations .. Sounds like somebody's living in the past, contemperize, man!!

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

A reasonably vigorous pour produces a three-finger thick, frothy, light tan colored head. The beer is a red stained, amber color that shows a quite clear, orangish tinged, light red hue when held up to the light. Fairly hoppy, with a candied citrus and bright berry aromatic note to it. Towards the back end a touch of sharper citrus oil notes and perhaps a touch of pine comes out. Bergamot oil aromatics play a nice role here and provide a nice, bright orange note to the nose. Surprisingly little malt character is noticeable under the hop character though it certainly boosts the fruit and berry notes found in the aroma. This doesn't have an over-the-top hoppiness to it and I am actually a bit surprised I don't get more malt aromatics.

Quite light bodied for a Barleywine; almost a bit thin. Citrus hop flavors of candied orange zest, lightly sweetened tangerine juice as well as a touch of berry notes towards the middle. This seems to pick up a touch of oxidation flavors towards the finish; it is quite light, but seems to accentuate the berry flavors a bit as well as adding a touch of sherry. For a Barley Wine the malt character is surprisingly muted; I would expect lots of toasty grain and caramelized malt notes here, but these barely play a role in the flavor profile.

This has a surprisingly high alcohol content given how light the flavors are; it definitely hides the alcohol fairly well too. An interesting interpretation, I could definitely use more malt flavors and heft here. This comes off as being a nicely hopped, slightly big, Amber Ale. Not bad, but not overly exciting either.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Cloudy orange colour with a creamy white foma. Lightly yeasty aroma of metal, biscuit, grass and oranges. Pretty stale flavour of cramel, yeast and alcohol. Medium-bodied. Metallic and a bit yeasty finish of toffee, grass and white bread.

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

Pinkish orange colour, small beige head. Aroma is fruits, yeast and slight sweet notes of alcohol. Some spices also along with caramel. Flavour is caramel, toffee, yeast and nice sweeter malts. A very wellbalanced flavour, which hides the alcohol totally.