Old Backus Barleywine
Free State Brewing Company in Lawrence, Kansas, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Regular|
Score
7.65
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Huge thanks to peteinSD for the handbottle - traditional british barleywine with a slight american twist - nose of treacle, fig, raisin, whiskey, prune, licorice - smells pretty awesome, actually - mouthfeel is slick, but the body just a touch thin for the abv - flavor is not quite as complex as the aroma - it still has a lot of raisin, treacle, fig - light oxidation and a sherry-like quality - finish has a fair amount of hop bitterness (the american twist), despite the fact that this seems to have some age on it, so I can only imagine how bitter it is when fresh - I probably wouldn’t like it as much - this, however, is quite nice.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Growler at RBWG 2013 Grand Tasting. Pours cleanish copper with a fine, tan foam head. Good stuff overall, big and sweet with light, dry leafy bitterness, some caramel. Full bodied with fine carbonation. Warming finish, rich fruity sugars, toffee, light bitterness. Good one.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Growler @ Ratman’s house, courtesy of jcnielsen. Thanks! 2010 vintage, I believe. Pours a reddish violet appearance with little head. Rich caramel, dark fruity, brown sugar aroma. Light carbonation. Fairly herbal/earthy hoppy, quite bitter, black cherry, plum, brown sugar, caramel flavor. Pretty tasty brew.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Growler courtesy of RobertDale - thanks Bob! Deep and slightly hazy amber color. Aroma of rich butterscotch and light spice. Taste is equally rich, not overly sweet, vanilla and toffee. Delicious.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
growler @ Dog Days of Summer Gathering. reddish color, light tan head. plenty of caramel malts, forward booze, dark fruits, molasses with mild hop bitterness. Enough malt to balance everything out, leaving the hop bitetrness to be a little in hindsight. Carbonation was thin.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Growler thanks to my girlfriend. Poured a dark mahogany brown with minimal head. Aroma full of grain and bread malts with a touch of wood lying underneath. Flavor was thick with malt notes which were particularly grainy with just a touch of caramel towards the end. Nice and thick on the tongue.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle courtesy of Storm. Pours a dark amber color with a small off-white head. Has a spicy malty caramel aroma with hints of dark fruit and alcohol. Sweetish warming malty dark fruit and caramel flavor with some spicy hints and also some weak hints of licorice. Has a long warming spicy dark fruit finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
2006 on tap @ the brewpub, 2 years old. Multiple snifter fills. The color is murky reddish brown, sometimes pours with a small but lasting head, other times no head. Aroma is is strong with sweet, malty, raisin bread with strong notes of rummy black bread. Not strong on hops but I have been told when fresh this is extremely hoppy. Its not over the top on the nose but its still strong. Taste is thick with light fruitiness (in a good way, not astringent or anything), thick maltiness, with some faint roast that works well, and a lightly bitter rosy rum. Alcohol there but works well with the bigness of the beer, does not stick out much. Mouthfeel is very full yet not dead. Just a bit of burn down the throat on the first sip. Velvet-y feel on the cheeks. I kept drinking it, so I guess I liked it a lot. Stands up to the hype.
Had some 2002 at the Anniversary party in 2011. Very strong cardboard present. Still a nice barleywine underneath but plenty of oxidation at this point.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Bottle at Fins ... Thanks to Fin for a great weekend and some Real intersting beers... Huge Thanks to Casey for this 3yr old Bottle ... But also a huge thanks to mcbackus who posted a thread in trade forum that made me realise i hadnt entered this and about a dozen others. ... Amber ... sweet malts tofeee and vanilla nose .. Rich deep toffee ... some vanilla again ... deep vine fruits ... For me much better balanced that alesmith numbskull..
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Tasting with Casey, Traci, Craig, Stella and Loz 27-09-08 Pours amber, with a thin white wispy head. Striking bittersweetness, some bonfire toffee. The bitterness is really strung out, good soft squidgy tangerine as well, very likeable.