Christmas Ale
King and Barnes in Horsham, West Sussex, England 🏴
Barley Wine - Barley Regular Out of Production|
Score
6.78
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Last brewed in winter 1999.
A pale golden beer with mellow bitterness containing many of the flavours of Christmas including dried fruit, malt and alcohol.
A pale golden beer with mellow bitterness containing many of the flavours of Christmas including dried fruit, malt and alcohol.
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7.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle at home.. Christmas 2019... 1996 vintage... Deeply copper.. Thin white lacing.. Soft sweet caramel toffee fruit nose.. Soft caramel cardboard.. Soft blackcurrant.. Soft sweet caramel.. Juicy sweet.. This is amazing
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Sep 2019
at 09:53
6.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
12th December 2017
Bodney Towers bottleshare. Thanks to Leighton. A 1993 bottle. Almost clear reddish amber beer, a few cream colour bubbles. Palate is smooth and has very modest carbonation. Wood and sherry dominates the malts. Mild tang. Red berries. Smooth finish. Pretty tasty but needs to breathe for 20 mins to get the best out of it.
Bodney Towers bottleshare. Thanks to Leighton. A 1993 bottle. Almost clear reddish amber beer, a few cream colour bubbles. Palate is smooth and has very modest carbonation. Wood and sherry dominates the malts. Mild tang. Red berries. Smooth finish. Pretty tasty but needs to breathe for 20 mins to get the best out of it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Jan 2018
at 20:55
5.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle shared at Leighton's place at the Ktwse tasting, 12/12/2017. Thanks to Ken. A Mostly clear nutty brown coloured pour with a halo of white head. Aroma is oxidised, sweet nutty malts, brown sugars, salty, umami, jammy. Flavour is composed of semi sweet, minty, stale malts. Palate si semi sweet, oxidised,lowish carboantion. . Minty.
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Dec 2017
at 18:57
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
1993 bottle care of LKS. It pours deep brown with a small beige head. The aroma is earthy, tangy, dried fruits, raisin, umami, vanilla, fruit cake, oxidised malts, brown bread and umami. The taste is slick, oily, brown bread, fruit cake, raisin, date, earthy, tannin, earthy, light spice and wood with a dry, fruity finish. Medium body and fine carbonation. Great condition for the age.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Dec 2017
at 13:25
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle shared in London - vintage 1993. Pours clear ruby with a small, bubbly head. Nice aroma, some well toasted toffee, bread, graham crackers, berries, prunes. Medium sweet flavour with lots of meaty berries, chewy toffee, a little earth, leather, note prunes. Medium bodied, lightly oily, soft. Sweet finish, more meaty and leathery berries, fruit leather, sweet toffee. Has aged reasonably well.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Dec 2017
at 13:23
8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
From old tasting notes. 1995 vintage. Hazy amber orange color. Huge rocky beige head. Earthy toasted malt nose.msweet toasted malt flavor hints at butterscotch and licorice. Intensely robust and complex. Great flavor and obvious big alcohol strength.mlots of hops in finish balance off this brew nicely.
Tried
on 09 May 2017
at 19:40
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
1996 & 1997 vintage side-by-side tasting @ Shrewsbury Beer Share, Jan 15, many thanks Mike for these rare gems! Both pour clear gold with decent head. 1996 has a dusty cobweb taste, rather musty and past it’s best. The 1997 seemed to retain a good caramel fruitiness and tasted really rather special. An excellent tasting, shame there wasn’t more to savour!.
Tried
on 20 May 2015
at 06:06
7.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Two shared bottles: 1996 and 1997. Both were superb! Brought to the January bottle share meeting in Shrewsbury by Mike. Broached between five of us on 12th January 2015. Clear, mid-gold with white heads the beers looked good. Fairly sweet with plum and spicy notes. Slight ’musty and dusty’ feel to the brews, but both bottles were covered in cobwebs, so maybe they gave off some of the esters I picked up on? The 1997 version seems a little darker, stronger and fruitier, however it was a joy to drink both of them. Lovely surprise to have a chance to try these ’classic’ beers from the late 19 hundreds. Cheers Mike.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Jan 2015
at 04:49