bottle - Pours orange/brown with a thin head. The aroma has malt, caramel, mild hops, and perhaps a bit of oak. The flavor is caramel malt well balanced by some moderate hops taste and some fruit tones. Full bodied and tasty, it’s worth a try.

1998 vintage from goldtwins. Ruddy orange, sediment-laden body, thin, quickly dissipating off-white head. Big oxidized sherry notes dominated the aroma, in addition to alcohol and caramels. Caramely body with hints of butterscotch, sherry, dusty and cobwebby with prickly alcohol. I’d like to try a fresher vintage to get a feel for how this ages.

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2005 vintage. Hazy orange color with a white head. The aroma was mostly citrus hops. The flavor seems dominated by orange citrus hops, some pine hoppiness and a bit of sweet caramel. Very tasty.

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2001 vintage. This one seemed a bit more tart. I think there may have been a problem with this particular bottle. .

12/02/06 Walk the Line Barleywine Festival, Dunedin, FL. 2000 vintage. This one also poured somewhat hazy orange to light amber with little head. The aroma was very light. The hop bitterness and flavor were much softer than the ’05. The ABV was unnoticed. Really nice beer.

12 oz bottle thanks to gputty. Bottled 2/16/06, so rather fresh. Also, 11.4%. Poured into a Tripel Karmeliet large tulip glass. Pours with a rather large head especially for a BW. Color is dark amber with reddish and orange-ish hues. Head turns into a strong lacing covering the entire surface. Aroma is strong - not balanced for me though, dominated by a weird mix of hops and malt. Strong piney hop aroma overtakes a rather weak English BW malt of brown sugar and bread. I do not get any of the plum/raisin alcohol aroma I am used to. The taste is weak, yes weak for anything this strong. Very watery and thin on flavor. Still get the pine, peppery at the end. Not malt driven (only felt slight brown sugar/butterscotch in the aftertaste). Medium body but kind of light for a BW. Surprisingly no burn on the throat. I should be getting a few more to age from Immy, but it may be in vain.7/4/6/3/13 = 3.3

re-rate time. I had no belief I would enjoy this anymore but I am surprised how little I enjoyed it the first time, 11 years ago. So, its likely that ownership isn’t what screwed up this barleywine. This has all the trappings of a poorly made barleywine. Very astringent, cherry everywhere, strong alcohol, plastic. Yup, I never need to buy this brewery anymore. 6/3/6/3/11 = 2.9. New score stands.

Clear dark amber color with a thin creamy off-white head. Sweet caramel aroma. Sweet caramel flavor with some molassas and some light fruit.

Bottle. Enjoyed the beer. Great barleywine, wasn’t too overpowering, and liked the malt flavor.

What a barleywine should be. Thick. Aroma is primarily fruit and some sugar. Very sweet flavor, this is a lot like Full Sail.

Bottle. Quite malty flavour with some pepperiness from the alcohold. Aftertaste has a little hops.

Bottle. Pours cloudy amberish red with a dusting of a head. Looks thick and a bit cloudy. Aromas of deep fruitiness and lots and lots of malts. Highly fruited malt flavor with a zip and a tangy aftertaste, but not metallic (which is nice). Alcohol isn’t well masked, but it defitely doesn’t taste like 10+%. A bit too sweet for me to want to drink on a regular basis, but once in awhile is ok.

Bottle: Poured a reddish/orange color ale with a small off-white foamy head with good retention. Aroma of honey, strong malt and bitter hops. Taste is sweet caramel with a full body and a creamy texture. Lots of bitter hops can feel at the end with a warming feeling. Very good barleywine but maybe a tad too sweet for my liking.