Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's Ale

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

Pours an opaque chocolate brown with a bit of a buff head. Aroma has sweet caramel, woody, and bourbon-ish notes. Flavor has a strong alcohol bite as well as caramel and woody notes. Smooth, viscous texture is fairly fizzy. Glad I caught a snort at the HMOG!

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

Sampled this fresh and didn't take notes, thanks to slowrunner77 for the bottle. 750 cork and caged presents a ruby hued brown/black with a thin whispy head. Malt forward aromas of brown sugar and molasses. Creamy and smooth mouthfeel, immensely smooth with age. Smoky notes of molasses, caramel, and toasted walnuts. A slow sipper with dark nuances as it warms.

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

This beauty from JLoz, way back in November 2010. Got to sit on those Barleywines. Shared at #KnoxBeerCrew tasting. Dark brown pour, very tight but short tan head, little lacing. Rich caramel boozy aroma, tons of ripe dark fruits, earthy hops, brandy, goodness in the nose. Big rich flavor, rich toffee and booze, brandy-like, heavy, some woodsiness, deep rich ripe cherries, molasses. Lt this bad boy warm to room temp. Great beer. HUGE thanks to Jayson (jlozier) for this one. It was a big hit at the Tasting.

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

My friend found this somewhere in southern California. After a year or so, I finally got to try one of these. The hop presence has died back a bit, leaving one of the the carameliest barleywines I've ever had. Really clean finish and thick mouthfeel. The alcohol flavor tastes almost like a cherry brandy. overriding flavor here is burnt chocolate, like when you melt dark chocolate in a pan instead of a double boiler. A nice find, especially since it was on sale.

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

Bottled. Very deep ruby red colour, close to black, with a creamy beige head. Aroma is caramel malts, some alcohol and mild floral notes. Flavour is caramel malts, some fruitys, alcohol, mild roasted notes as well as some mild nuttyness. Rather sweet aftertaste.

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

My favorite of the 30th Anniversary series. Very chocolatey for a barleywine, so more like an IPS, but not quite as thick. I really like this a lot, so will get another one to age for a few years. Some roasty/malty flavors with solid hop ending that lingers with the chocolate malt. Not super-strong for a barleywine, so drinkable as the ABV% is somewhat masked. Just don't drink the whole bottle at once! I actually split this up into 3 sessions :)

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

Shared at a local tasting a while back. Not as impressive to me initially compared to the stout the released prior, but it comes across as a very solid barleywine. Great appearance, firm aroma and grand flavor.

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

I was on a quest to find this special offering from SN. I chilled it to a crisp frost. I opened it and let it breathe a little. I was met with a whiff of roasted sweet nutty fragrences. At pour it was very dark and the head was like a nice Kona coffee color. In the mouth it felt a bit dry and slightly molasses sweet. Goes down very nicely and then that initial invitation is all in needed to keep going. I enjoy Barleywine styles from all over and this was definitely out of the SN hoppy brew style like their Bigfoot. This was almost like a cross between English and American styles. Very Nice, another homerun from SN got get yours KNOW!

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

I really didnt know how to rate this beer. Looks like there has already been some dicussion around the porter-ness of the beer, in fact I hadn't read the label or heard anything about the beer, and I was surprised to read barleywine on the bottle. I think it is a really neat beer in its own right. However, as a barelywine I would have wanted the whole beer to be much bigger and the mouthfeel to be much thicker, instead it is a bit dry and biscuit like, thin, and hoppy, drinks almost like a high alochol brit pale ale might, if such a thing existed. Definatel getting some acrid coffee, some smokiness a bit like a buring pile of leaves.... more coffee and bitter dark chocolate. The color is novel, and the flavours neat. The hops are what make the beer quite strange to me, I have had some pretty hoppy barleywines now, like red horizon from Nonge, but this one is decidedly american. I really dig this beer, but I would not call it a barleywine at all.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Pours dark brown with a healthy tan head. Nice aroma of apple, dark fruits, roasted malt and a hop bite. Very strong beer. Lots of flavor and the alcohol doesn't try to hide. The thick foam gives a soft kiss with every sip, as it's taking a long time to subdue. The pine and citrus of the hops starts to take over as I continue drinking. Full body and not all that easy to drink. Good beer but not worth $10!