New Holland Existential Hopwine

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

On draft at a bar near me, gave it a gander via a small sampler cup. Dark brownish opaque with a decent sized head. Better than average taste on this one, but just not that easy drinking.

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

Growler poured into a snifter. Bright copper color, generous off-white head faded rapidly with moderate lacing. Earthy aroma, with subtle notes of floral and citrus. Hops lead the flavor, pine with a gentle citrus tang, backed up with sweet malt, with a definite alcohol warmth asserting itself toward the bottom of the glass. Mouthfeel is medium-to-full bodied, and finishes with classic hoppy zing, a little sweet stickiness and a mild alcohol warmth. Overall, a fine example of the style... won't make me forget Bigfoot, but I'd certainly drink it again!

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

I thought this one would be better than it was. Pours an amber color with a small blotchy head. Piney hoppy aroma and blends with some caramel and toffee. Sweet and a bit sticky, which is distracting at times from what is a big hoppy flavor, both pine and some grapefruit, caramel malts, butterscotch, toffee. It is somewhat alcoholic, showing mostly in the finish. Definitely a hybrid of a beer, I had a hard time getting into it. Too sweet and really not any bitterness to speak of to offset that, leaving this overall a little messy.

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

Sampled from a bottle with no freshness date. Pour is clear orange with a thick off white head. Aroma is musty malts and astringent alcohol. I think I may have a bad bottle. Very sour taste up front, mouth puckering. Musty malts along with a creamy mouthfeel give way to a sharp alcohol bite. I don't understand why there's a hop depicted on the bottle as I didn't notice any hop bite. This is certainly a beer in limbo - I'd think of it more of a barleywine than a IIPA. I've had this on draft before and enjoyed it more. I'd like to sample this again with a different bottle.

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

This barleywine pours a medium orange gold color from a 22oz etched bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is caramel, bready and sweet with some citrusy hops. A medium bodied barley wine. The malts are caramel and sweet, touch or orange rind. The hops are piney and grapefruity. This beer is one of those in between a hoppy barley wine or a sweet Imperial IPA. I would have to lean ever so slightly to the hoppy barley wine; it is a little more sweet than bitter, well it’s a lot more sweet than bitter but most of that sweetness is at the finish. Most of the bitterness is at the start. Touch of alcohol at the finish as well. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet, with a touch of alcohol.

Aroma: 3 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 4

Advertised as a IIPA at the Bocktown. Clear and slightly darker than the ubiquitous pale lager. Creamy head. Turns tea froth after a few minutes. Perfumery on the olfactory. Aroma of hops and of course, piny spruce hops. thick mouth coating syrupy palate. Way too much alky for this lager lover. Virtually no carbonation. Comes across like any other barley wine. Finish is bitter medicine like a DPA. On style.

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

Bottle shared by slob. Pour is amber to orange in color, nice steady off-white colored head, good retention, nice splotchy lacing. The nose is citrus, pine, maple, tea bags. Flavor picks up where the aroma left off, some brown sugar also in there. Turns a little sticky with warmer temperatures (even some butterscotch, as Bert noted first), and the alcohol comes on, but overall a nice bwine. Perhaps the best NH brew I've had to date. Thanks, Bert!

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

Bottled at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Amber colour with a long-lasting sticky white foam. Sweet aroma of flowers, caramel and honey with touches of pepper and spicy alcohol. Full-bodied with a clean mouthfeel. Caramel, honey, melon, brown sugar and garpefruit in the flavour. Medium bitter and warming finish of spices, caramel, pears, grass and grapefruit.

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

A copper colored beer with a white head. An orange, pine, vanilla, and alcohol filled aroma. The malt and hops balance out nicely in this one. Its sweet up front with some bitterness in the end. The flavor consists of pine, oranges, vanilla, and alcohol notes. Overall this was a very good one!

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

Pours a very cloudy dark caramel brown, with a one finger head that settles slowly to a soapy cap. The lacing is thick and very sticky, leaving large chunks of foam. Smell; lots of caramel and toffee malts, with some cherries. As expected there's definitely a big hop presence with citrus and floral hops. Taste; very much hop dominated by the hops, with citrus a little pine and a touch of floral hops, but this also has a very big malt presence. There's caramel, toffee, molasses a little brown sugar and some cherries and dates as well. In the finish there's a spicy alcohol, but that wasn't at all surprising considering the very high ABV. Mouthfeel is full bodied, almost syrupy, and despite the big alcohol content this goes down surprisingly easy. This tastes more like a hoppy barleywine than a double IPA to me, but who really cares how you classify it. This is a pretty darn good beer regardless. I'm happy to see New Holland try something like this.