Buffalo Head Barley Wine

Deep brown coloured body, very cloudy, with a bright ruby glow when held up to the light and a thinnish, single centimetre tall tan head. Aroma of oak, vanilla, toffee, nuts, caramel, alcohol and bunches and loads of pit fruits. Medium to Full-bodied; Very strong alcohol and metallic burn up front with a more sedate chocolate, raisin, fig, earth, oak, vanilla, bourbon and even some light hops in the flavour. Aftertaste is quite complex with the alcohol burn and malt by far the strongest flavours. But, some vanilla and especially the sweetness from the pit fruits starts to overlap on the burn, but the palate and flavour are less than ideal, especially with my aging of the bottle. Overall, a decent barley wine at best; Perhaps I was expecting a bit too much, but even after the aging of the bottle and getting it from a nice brewery way up North, this didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. I sampled this 65 cL bottle purchased from La Bodega in Anchorage, Alaska on 04-October-2013 for US$14,50 sampled at home in Washington as it starts to get slightly chilly here on 06-December-2015. Date on Bottle: 19-February-2013 // Purchased Date: 04-October-2013 // Sampled Date: 06-December-2015, Listed on Bottle at 2013 Vintage at 13,0% ABV

Bottle thanks to Shig. Pours reddish amber tan head. Nose/taste of piney hops, resin, caramel, and toffee. Medium body.

Bottle from Bottleworks, Seattle
Dark amber-brown color with red hue, and small creamy head. The aroma is quite nutty, some caramel, light alcohol. Caramel and malt flavor, the alcohol punch is quite evident, nutty side too; correct bitterness.
A boozy Barley Wine, not bad, but not convincing too.

Draft - Sweet caramel and some nice brown sugars. Clear Amber copper with a decent beige head. Caramel, nice fruity sweetness and bit of light booze.

22 oz. bottle, pours a dark caramel brown with a small tan head. Aroma of caramel malts, booze and brown sugar -- lots of heat here. Flavour brings out caramel, alcohol, and candied sugar. Alcohol is revealing though not too burning. Pretty simplistic for a barley wine -- not very complex. Drinkable, but rather hot.

22 oz-er poured into a snifter. Bottling date: \"02192013,\" little old, but hey I found this in Skagway and not Juneau.
The appearance was a dark brown/black color with a semi-thick two finger white to off white head. That damn head must last at least for a good 3 minutes before it dissipated and once it did, the lacing was adequately lacing the glass really nicely.
The smell had a super rich sweet candied sugared fruits over top of some sweet raisin bread.
The taste has a very nice, sweet fruit, candi sugar-ed toastiness.
On the palate, this one sat about a medium in body with more of a sipper aspect to it, but that’s okay since this is a Barleywine. The carbonation was there but subdued a bit and the way this came across my tongue had a decent sharpness but also allowed a nice sweet dark fruitiness to run over it.
Overall, good barleywine, its nice to see it held up since the date it was manufactured - not sure why this one can’t come to Juneau and I had to go to Skagway to find it, still if it held up to this long and came across with these marks - Kassik’s must be doing something right, way to go boys!

Pours a muddy dark brown with a very generous head for a barleywine. Sweet nutty caramel aroma. The flavor is sweet with little hop flavor. Pretty simple Barleywine. Hides it’s alcohol well.

From a 22 oz bottle shared at home. Pours a clear brownish amber with a tan head. Malty nose. Flavors of caramel and some tropical fruit. Medium to heavy bodied and moderate carbonation. Hides the alcohol well. Smooth and well balanced.

Bottle: Poured a reddish to mahogany color with a think off white colored head. Aroma is sweet caramel malt. Taste is a bit chewy with loads of malts, some metallic hops, fine chocolate, and dark fruit. Dry finish.

Hazy amber color, thick tan head, solid lacing. Aroma of toasted. Aramel. Taste is boozy butterscotch. Nice.