Real Ale Sisyphus Barleywine Ale

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

The label on my bottle was blue, dated 2009, and listed at 10%. It is certainly a heavy beer with the alcohol hidden well. A dark brown pour with reddish hues, and a short-lived off-white head. Sweet caramel malt, plums, and licorice is found in the aroma. The flavour is sweet, but not sickingly so, with caramel and fruit tones coming through. A sipper, but worth it.

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

Bottle dated 2008 - a mellow/lighter barleywine with some good character. Light brown body with a creamy head and strands of lacing. Vanilla and spicy aroma with a hint of caramel. Drinkable and dangerous considering the strength. Biscuits and fruity flavors are followed by a faint woodiness and plenty of toffee as well as vanilla.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 2 | Overall: 2

Bottle from boboski. Pour was hazy (not murky) orange, tons of little bubbles so slowly rising in the body around the edges. Lacing was ok, but I didn't drink enough to really tell (read on). After smelling, band-aids and lysol style cleaners, not too impressive. Flavor was perhaps one off the worst beers I've had, although I tried and tried to be patient with it, trying sips at all sorts of temperatures short of mulling it! Band-aids, iodine, bandages, lysol (the original, none of that pine stuff), I suppose some caramel and faint fruitiness, and almost a ginger-like spicing. My fellow taster also couldn't get past it, ended up in the darin. Sorry, Jason, to have not liked this, but it was still appreciated, a fun experience, worked and worked at it every which way - and memorable (one of the cool apsects of beer).

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

2007 Vintage; Sampled July 2008
Wow this is one viscous brew, you can tell it is thick just by pouring it. This foamed up a bit as soon as I popped the cap, but it was slow enough that I was able to pour it into my glass before losing any beer. The head forms a three finger thick, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a red tinged, full amber hue that shows a lightly hazed, reddish, copper color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite hoppy, but also as a sticky fruitiness to it, or is that a touch of funk. Candied citrus notes start to take on a vegetal edge and then move to a funky, plastic edged phenolic character towards the finish. The funk and hop notes combine to form aromatic notes of berries, juniper, sour apple & watermelon jolly ranchers, pine sap and some light notes of acetone.

Thick and rich tasting, fairly sweet too, though not quite as sweet as the thick body might suggest. Amply hoppy, though this has a funky edge to it with some plastic and lightly smoky phenolics. Flavors of grapefruit, lychee and orange zest are purely hop driven, while flavors of pine, typically associated with hops alone, are actually accentuated by the phenolic notes. Sweet malt sugars take a caramelized edge and accentuate the hoppy citrus fruit flavors. Underneath the phenolic notes in the finish are malty-driven notes of biscuit malt and lightly, toasty grain.

I'll admit to being forewarned about possible contamination & as I was staring into the beer fridge after have a disappointingly unfunky / uncomplex Weyerbacher Riserva, I figured what the heck, might as well have a beer were the funkiness plays a distinctive role even it was unintentional. Judged purely to style this is a monumental failure, funk has no place in a modern Barleywine, but taken as a hedonistic experience it is not half bad. This will get substantially more funky with time as it seems to be at the beginning of its funk journey; proceed with caution, but with an open mind this can be at least somewhat enjoyable.

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

Pour was a deep reddish brown...or should I say brownish read...good head and some lacing. The aroma was sweet malt. The flavor was really sweet...sickly so, even though there was some bitterness to attempt to balance it. The bitterness didn’t seem to come from any hops, but rather some overdone kind of spice. The mouthfeel was extremely sticky...kind of like I was lowered into a vat of maple syrup. Caramel, fruit, vanilla and goofy odd spice...but not going well together. I like the rating below that said "overattenuated honey and urine"...that isn’t far off! I had trouble finishing this one.

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

This one poured a copper color with a small white head. The aroma contains some alcohol, toffee, caramel, and cherries. The flavor is slightly sweet and contains some dark fruit, cherries, and a hint of citrus. The aftertaste is quite warming. Overall a nice barleywine.

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

It might not be the worst barleywine I've ever had, but it's awfully close. I got word that I might have received in a trade some infected bottles. Man, I've got 5 bottles of this and if they are all infected that would suck. Might have to call up mmmmbeer and see if he want's 'em.

The beer pours out a cloudy amber/brown color with a nice 2-finger cap head. Sweet caramel malts permeate the nose, and then it hits you. Burnt rubber, like someone just did a break stand in the glass. Flavor was mostly sweet, and undefineable sweetness (almost like cane sweetness), rubbery band-aids and iodine? Pretty awful (and weird) beer here. I've got 4 more to find out if the whole things was infected, a bad bottle or what. I'll re-rate if it's warranted.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 3 | Overall: 3

Tasted at the May Northern California Beer Tasting. I think it was a bad bottle, and will try and rerate sometime. This barley wine pours a deep amber color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized white foamy head. The aroma is malt, caramel, burnt tire and some stuff I real don’t care or want to describe. A medium bodied barley wine. The malts were sweet and well, catpiss comes to mind. Phenolic. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is smooth. Aftertaste is never mind…

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

This is the only barleywine i have sampled so i dont have much to judge this stuff against. It was a dark amber with a thin head. Smelled and tasted very malty and thick, sticky sweet citrus and caramel flavors aplenty. Overall i thought it was pretty good and is worth a try especially on a cold winter night.

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

hahahaha! a case was sent to my local after talking to my head beer honcho of the whole city! Pours a dark tan-brown, has a constant foam layer... The aromas that emanate are fan-freakin-tastic! ... yahoo!..’’maybe she’s sleepy??’’ ... for an american barleywine, this has to be the most drinkable in all of man kind!!! .. i could drink this after a 90 min soccer game or with breakfast in the morning, its that f*ckin good and SMOOTH!!! balanced and tasty, I recommend this to anyone who even considers a barleywine once and a while because this is the definition of: beauty! ..............by the way, is this really 11%..????

had some ’05 on tap @ flying saucer... wow, ages so nicely.. clears up a bit ... silky smooth... dangerous as always!!!

had some fresh 2010 on tap at the saucer.. uggh, decent i guess.. a tad dusty, its saving grace was i had a chocolate dessert with raspberry and it paired beautifully.. so there.. fuck drogba! .. scores changed accordingly .