5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Reviewed from old notes.
I grabbed a 22 oz-er of this the day I left their brewery.
This was poured into a chalice.
The appearance was a hazy dull yet semi-clear brown color. Transparent in a barleywine? Uh...ok, I’ll just say brewer’s intentions and move on. A slim half finger-ed off white foamy head formed and dissipated within less than a good twenty seconds. Barely any lacing graced the glass.
The smell had a strong English sweet malt to it. Light chocolate and coffee were noted.
The taste was semi-sweet and had a dry sweet maltiness over top of some light chocolate.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a decent sessionability about it. Sessionability for a barleywine? Uh...once again, okay, I thought I’d be able to sip this one but am finding I’m able to drink it. The aftertaste had a somewhat of a dry sweet caramel rolling over my tongue that bled into its finish.
Overall, weird barleywine as its not as bitter as I had hoped for, I couldn’t really tell if this was closer to an English or an American version of barleywine and I was drinking this instead of sipping it. I’m unsure if that ABV really was 8.8%. I stand on the fence if I would have this again.