Lagunitas Olde Gnarly Wine

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

A traditional barleywine....Laguintas style. This beer pours a deep clouded golden brown colour with a weak tan head that manages to last and last. Aroma is grains and fruit. Plums, cherries, and a hint of citrus. Flavour has a spicy kick to go along with the sweetness. A very good beer.

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

Really simple barley wine, and while it is without flaws, I cannot say it is great. The flavour/aroma profile seems to be dominated primarily by crystal/carmel malts and grapefruit. There is some woody/floral scent than comes in and out like a cologne, sometimes drying beechwood, and again sometimes some dried citrus, but everything is pretty subdued and hugged tight by the malts. Well enjoyed, without flaws, but not interesting enough to find again.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 10

Ruby dark brown with a 1/2 “ noisy cap, average looking beer nothing exciting nothing boring. Instant drool aroma! Big sweet caramel, hoppy lime, oranges, and sweetened grape fruit but not really grapefruit. Must attempt to stop smelling to actually drink some. My cat just slipped on my drool puddle. Taste is full, thick and chewy with a perfect balance of sweet caramel malts and hoppy bitterness. Beer somehow looks prettier sitting in my glass now, it has gained a sparkly crystal look to it. the hop profile of this beer is killer I’m digging the candy like lime and grapefruit. So goooooooooooooooooooooood. This is a perfect bitter for a barlywine!!!. More fake orange. Malts could be a touch thicker to make them perfect but they are still awesome. Beer is sugary sweet and it working for me. Hints of wood are now showing along with pine. The stuff is dangerously easy drinking I’ve drank most of this giant bottle and its only been 5 min. CRAP I MUST SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY IT MORE. Room starting to spin! Can’t taste any hint of alcohol. This is so simple but so perfect. Starts to border on to sweet when warm but never crosses the line. Must buy more of this to drink constantly. 650ML bottle done in 20 min I’m drunk now. So easy drinking!!!!!

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

Yet another barleywine that I like a lot more than Bigfoot. Smells sweet, with some slight alcohol notes and pine resin. Mouthfeel is rather resiny, and pretty sticky...Flavor is rather simple, but extremely delicious: sweet caramel, alcohol heat, raisins, figs, and bittering hops. This might just become one of my favorite Lagunitas beers. Granted the experience of drinking this beer may be greatly enhanced by the fact that I have been spending the night learning to play a bunch of songs off of Exile on Main Street....Don't need your jewels in my crown...got to scrape that shit right off your shoe...there's too many flies on you...Gimme a little drink...The finish is bitter and rather clean. For a barleywine that comes across as sweet as this one is, I'm surprised that it isn't cloying at all. A really fabulous beer.

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

A murky reddish brown colored beer. There's a big creamy textured, off white head rising robustly above. Some hang time. Settles eventually into a thick ringlet atop the body and film aside the glass. There's a nice alcohol bite to this one. The nose is floral and oaken. The tasting marches so smoothly as floral and woodsy. Let this one warm, it gets better.

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

This barleywine comes out of the tap an opaque mahogany with a fine-bubbled beige head. Aroma is strong, malty and a little fruity like a brandy. Fruity and malty flavor has a fierce alcohol bite to it like any good barleywine. Texture is lively, fizzy and fiercely edgy.

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

Twenty 'Aught-9. A very nice American-style barleywine, if a bit generic, when fresh. There are a ton of barleywines out there and it takes a lot to stand out from the crowd of good barleywines. Gnarlywine doesn't quite make it into the arena of the great ones, but this is a fresh bottle and only time will tell where the beer will go as it matures. The beer pours a beautiful shade of red with a healthy off-white head that gives way to a pretty pattern of suds sitting atop the liquid and nice lacing. The aroma is mostly citric/piney hops and caramel-sweet, malty alcohol. The flavor has a pretty good hop bite, but it's already backed off a bit in the months that I've had this bottle. The malt is strong without being too sticky and sweet. It's a good barleywine that sticks to the middle of the road but does it well. It'll be fun to see how it ages. 3/11/2010 - 2003 vintage, bottle, City Beer Store. Smooth, rich and sweet. The body was a bit thin but otherwise the beer has aged nicely.

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

For me Lagunitas is a "local beer" produced less than 50 miles from home. I have purchased a number of bottles over the last few months, they are a good Friday night "put you to sleep" while watching TV treat. Gnarly is a good word for this beverage. I find the not so subtle characteristics to be charming. A long lasting bitter hop note and after taste, lasting more than a half hour after finishing the bottle, at 10.85 ABV there is a significant kick, and the slight harshness of the beer is a pleasant change from many of the more morose drinks out there!

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

I havent had a barleywine in a while so i picked this one up, and wow, very nice brew. Aromas of fruity, floral, and citrus hops a plenty. Mouthfeel was thick and chewy, but easy to drink. Flavors of sweet caramel malts, lots of citrus hops, pine, some alcohol as it warmed. A very nice offering from Lagunitas, and i will have it again.

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

So...not sure why I haven't rated this before. I've had it in bottle a couple times and even more recently on tap at Dexter's. It's 11% brew- what an ass kicker!! But a fantastic beer all the way through. Cloudy mahogany colour with a nice off white head. Aroma is beautiful and bright. Cherries, bourbon and oak on the nose. Taste has an interesting smokiness i find. Sweet, fruity and caramel underlying the taste. A super fantastic taste an wicked hearty, beautifully balanced brew.