Schlafly Reserve Oak-Aged Barleywine

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

Very prototypical barleywine...even with the barreling. Would be a good one to give someone and say this is what the style is supposed to be like. I've had better, but also much worse. This was a purty pour. 2011. Smelled of the barrels, caramel, oak, and spicy hops. Flavor much the same.

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

2011: Seems young but ready to go all the same. Color is fantastic. Low head ringlet. Oak, wood, fruit, herbs, mmmmmmmm. Alcohol there but should be expected. Thanks Fengshuidcu.

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

A sampling of a bottle from 2007 at the pfoxyjohn dinner party - I found the beer to be cloudy and caramel sweet, but with just enough hop balance to keep it interesting. It was lighter in color than I anticipated and kept a wispy head. A very enjoyable barley wine.

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

Interesting barleywine but my first thought was that it's too young and doesn't develop well, the problem is that the bottle is from 2007 so age doesn't appear to help it out. Good thick caramel aromas and flavors, nice looking in the glass, interesting mix of flavors and certainly worth trying.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 3 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

750ml bottle -

Totally caught off guard with awfulness of the aroma. Like a rubber bicycle inner tube and a tire burnout. I haven't had a beer with this much rubber in the aroma in a long, long time. The appearance had a really nice opaque orange body with a creamy 1-finger head. Flavor, thankfully, had none of the rubber showing up. But what was there was cotton-candy like sweetness and little else. No showing of the oak it was aged on, no showing of hops...just pure candy sweetness. It wasn't cloying in the mouthfeel, and alcohol was kept well in check by the malts. But was was just too one-dimensional with the cotton-candy like sweetness.

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

What a great barleywine. I had several different vintages of this brew. The '07, '09 and '10 and I must say if you stumble upon the '10, put it away for a few years. It needs some time. The nuances, berry fruit, oak, booziness and dark cherries are amazing. Big beer, not too rich, not too much caramel, just smooth as hell. But the '10, its a little young my friends, maybe in a few years.

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

Bottle, as Schlafly Reserve (Ale aged on oak) Barleywine Style Ale 2008, ABV 10.2%, at RBNAG 2009 in Vatlandsvåg. Orange to amber colour, low head. Aroma of alcohol and oak, some American hops and caramel too. The flavour is very oaky and alcoholic, notes of vanilla and coconut.

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

Cherry-amber body with a brown tint, vanishing, filmy head and a few spots of lace. At over 10% I wasn’t expecting more than was shown. Inviting aroma of plain cereal, figs, nuts and brown sugar. Filling and mildly sweet, very robust and satisfying. The mouth feel screams big beer, but the oak aging as well as some cellar time seems to have really smoothed this out and brought about a good creaminess. Woody taste with a mix of fermented, dark fruits and hearty cereal. Nutty with a big malt body.

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

Orangey pour, think bubbly head. Largely fruit flower aroma. Large notes of oak inthe flavor, fruit and bread. Really sweet and not much hops. Some tartness and flavor of pear. A bit rich. Ok...thanks to eaglefan538 for sharing.

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

Bottle from State Line. The pour was amber to orange with a decent initial head. The aroma was light fruits, some citrus hops, white raisins, strong oak. The flavor followed, some roasty nuts, bread, peaches, apricots, persimmons, pears, firm dry oak. The mouthfeel had somewhat of a pear feel, grainy/gritty, finishing dry, mouth sucking dry (persimmon-like in that regard). Good stuff, but a small glass was plenty, got to me after a while?