Ridgeway Brewing Insanely Bad Elf

Insanely Bad Elf

 

Ridgeway Brewing in South Stoke, Oxfordshire, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

  Barley Wine - Barley Winter
Score
6.39
ABV: 11.2% IBU: - Ticks: 98
"My goodness," muttered Claus, recalling his visit to the Institute, "the restrictive outerwear, the padded room - even padded Christmas tree ornaments. Horrifying ! Yet the little chap seems happier than he's ever been." Claus took a thoughtful sip of a most warming red ale. "Perhaps sanity is over-rated... Ho,ho,ho!"
 

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5.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 5
Bottle at Gallow’s Bird, Espoo. Originally rated 26112011. Colour is dark orange with small white head. Aromas and flavours: Alcohol, sweetness, caramel and malts.
Tried from Bottle on 18 Apr 2014 at 12:43

7/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle from Terre de Boissons, Coquelles, France. A dark amber coloured pour with a thin white head on top. Sweet, fruity, honey aroma. Tastes similar, quite sweet, fruity, honey, caramel, syrupy. Hints of De Dolle Stille Nacht in this one. I rather like it!
Tried from Bottle on 22 Feb 2014 at 06:13

5.5/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 5 Flavor 4 Texture 6 Overall 6
Bottle: Clear dark amber, with a short, off-white head. Scent is caramel, cherry, alcohol. Taste is tart, boozy, fruit and toffee. Honey, candy sugar. Very sweet, but finishes with a strong alcohol bitter/cough syrup note. Rather harsh, overall.
Tried from Bottle on 06 Jan 2014 at 11:03

6/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 5 Texture 6 Overall 5
Bottle. Pours clear copper brown with small white head. Aroma is very fruity with notes of sour apples, red Bassett’s Wine Gums, white wine, lawn, pine tree and faint rosehip. Taste is initial medium sweet, then medium sweet, medium bitter and light acidic. Body is heavy oily with medium carbonation. Finish is long and bitter-sweet and dominated by alcohol, but is also has notes of bitter grapefruit, caramel, fruit and flowers. Alcohol is too dominating.
Tried from Bottle on 19 Dec 2013 at 13:20

5.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 5 Texture 6 Overall 6
Vintage 2007 on label, purchased 2009 at Binny’s. Alcohol and brown sugar smell right under the cap. Pour doesn’t look that red, more of an autumn maple leaf, if that. No head, or course. Smell has a bit of red wine from the glass. But the taste is still a touch too much sugar, with some lactose giving a sensation of milk at the back of my throat. At least it has some malts to thicken up the mouthfeel. But it’s a pretty simple alcohol delivery system which I finished off without a second thought, unlike the nicely complex Goose Bourbon County BW I just had.
Tried on 09 Dec 2013 at 20:01

5.6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 4.5
Not great. Sugar bomb. Candied malt, sweet finish and orange pour. Syrupy disaster. Had at Cask Days 2013.
Tried from Can on 21 Oct 2013 at 11:12

5.1/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 4 Texture 4 Overall 3.5
330ml bottle from Millets Farm Shop nr Abingdon. Pours copper with a middling beige head. Pleasant enough smell of summer fruits- strawberry and melon, perhaps. It’s on putting the stuff in your mouth that the problems begin. The syrupy texture fails to be relieved by a light fizz. Although the flavour is fruity, it’s mainly dominated by sugar, like an extreme alcopop- it feels like it’s dissolving your teeth! A lasting dirty deaf leaf bitterness does not balance the sweetness, but instead adds an additional layer of unpleasantness to the inside of your mouth. Overall then it’s pretty grim, and scrapes a better-than-intended score only thanks to the pleasant aroma. I struggled to drink a whole bottle- quarter of a bottle might be better, but you’d still want a dentist on standby.
Tried from Bottle on 11 Oct 2013 at 15:31

6.9/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 7.5

33 cl bottle @ Olutravintola Kahdet Kasvot. Rated on 15.01.2010
Aroma has English hops, some toffee, grainy notes and alcohol. Flavour has stinging alcohol, English hops, hay, some grainy notes, toffee and hints of caramel. An English strong ale with booze added.
7-4-6-3-15 = 3.5

33 cl bottle @ home, BBE 04.11.2020
Aroma has woody tones, ripe fruits and toffee. Flavour has caramel, toffee, some "cold" cellar tones and wood. Surprisingly well preserved and alcohol is not that sharp here. There’s just some mild cellar aromas already present. Alcohol warmth and toffee candy are the main elements in this one.
7-3-6-3-15=3.4
Tried from Bottle on 02 Feb 2013 at 00:54

7/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7
330ml bottle. Pours bright orange with a small head. Aroma is orange squash, caramel malt and alcohol. Taste has a lot of toffee sweetness and red berries throughout. Not intense, pleasant to drink and no alcohol.
Tried from Bottle on 19 Dec 2012 at 11:25

6.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 6 Flavor 6 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
A pretty sweet flavor with nice bitterness. Cloudy amber in color with a white head.
Tried on 10 Dec 2012 at 08:38