Mad River John Barleycorn

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

12 oz bottle. Pours dark murky copper red with a small off-white head that quickly goes to a thin collar

. The aroma is sweet caramel malt with some dark fruit, molasses and alcohol.

The flavor is sweet sugary caramel malts with dark fruit and a medium bitter finish with a big harsh alcohol burn. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with low but spritzy carbonation.

Overall, it's an ok barley wine but not well balanced - too sweet with lots of harsh bitter alcohol.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 7

A murky mahogany colored brew. The soapy textured head is disappointing. It is small and rapidly disappearing. A very thin ringlet is left behind. Whiskey in the nose. Fruity, molassess and wppdsy in flavor. Intense warming alcohol. Syrupy.

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

Strong, rather fruity aroma has a note of cinnamon and a hint of wood. It pours a clear, dark brown with a thick and rather persistent buff head. Fruity flavor has malty and woody tones plus a hint of cinnamon, not as much of an alcohol bite as I usually get with a barleywine - though you know it's there! Smooth, firm-bodied texture has plenty of fizz.

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

2007 Bottle, 10.8%- This one seems like it gets better with age, from what I am reading and heard. I bought one as a single over the holidays, and saved it until last week. Liked it so much that I bought a 6-pack and will save a couple and age another year and/or two. I would say this is one of the better barleywines that I had. Not superstrong and finding it easy drinking. Smooth mouthfeel, which may be because of age. Flavors are a good balance of malt and hops. Caramel, brown sugar, honey, some fruit, fresh and citrus hops....I am really liking this and almost tastes like a Belgian Triple or Quad. Flavor and Overall may not quite be a 9...but I am finding it a high 8 so rounding up. I think this is slightly better than 4.0 so had to adjust. Murky/cloudy medium brown appearance. Can't wait to see what it tastes like in 2010-2012!

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

Vintage 2008: Dark mahogany body with a foamy tan head and blanketing lacing. Aromas of oat bran, light brown sugar, and flowers fill my nose. Soft and well blended, it's rather mild at this time. Thick bread and molasses flavors along with caramel, fruit cake and a mellow booziness. Traces of floral citrus hops come and go.

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

Sampled 2008 in July 2009. Opening this brew was meet with the aroma of chocolate/carmael roast. Mouthfull was not impressive alomst lacking the full flavor explosion that most barleywine styles have. It was fairly plain. The longer I let it sit open the more the more fruity it became. Dont get me wrong it was enjoyable but not what I was anticipating. I would try this brew again next year to compare the differences in batches.

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

2008 bottle .. . light meaty molasses in the smell .. wow, pretty rough- needs time or something .. speech speech .. not the most elegant barleywine but simple and drinkable .. this is decent, a good intro into barleys and for the abv, not bad ... . . I’ve done alot of things I’m not proud of, and the rest are disgusting!

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

This was pretty lame for a barleywine, which places me squarely in the minority on this. It was thin for the style. The flavors weren't very intense either. A sweet maltiness, some resinous hops and that was it. I was expecting something that is much more confrontational. The alcohol came through quite a bit in the flavor, and a little in the aroma. Medium brown colored, fizzy head that disappeared very quickly. This isn't something I would ever go look for again.

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

a few years ago i had my friends do a blind tasting of a year old, and a new release old stock. they all picked the year old. that year's john barleycorn, fresh, was mature like the year old old stock, but my friends, once they knew what it was, wou;dn't give it the nod. old stock has gotten even better, with JB (maybe) at best standing pat, but i still think it's good, and it's nice to not have to drop $6-10 on a single 22 oz bottle.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 3

Big strong heavy alky aroma and a thick brownish hazy iced tea appearance. Taste is strong in the alky range and in a wierd way sweet. Umma gumma. Yes, thick syrupy mouth coating beer, if you want to cal it that. Don’t know what to think of these high alky barleywine in yer faceness. Not refined like the belgian high alky beers. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley, and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death, and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting. Wew, too much for this session beer lover. Ucky, will not buy again, too big.