Barrel C9 - Experimental Barleywine
The Lost Abbey in San Marcos, California, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Regular Out of Production|
Score
7.21
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Served at 2015 Barrel Night. Aged 4 years in a cognac barrel with brettanomyces and seven flats of peaches.
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7.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 4
Overall 8
On tap at Chuck’s Hop Shop. Pours a cloudy amber with a brown hue and no head whatsoever. Aroma has lots of toffee, caramel and raisin with a touch of booze backing. Flavor has strong caramel and toffee with light bourbon and booze supporting.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 May 2016
at 23:30
8.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Draught at EBF, 2/5/16.
Jesus. Did not realize this thing was 16%!! Yikes, and to thing I’m almost always turned off by ultra high abv beers. Wasn’t the case here and I even went back for more a few times.
Not a particularly dark beer, with a deep auburn-amber color, modest clarity and a fleeting beige head.
The nose shows off plentiful barrel notes; raisin, grapeskin, plum, oak and a good dose of rich, malty toffee and vanilla, a la Angel’s Share. Peaches are notable, adding an actual dry, fruity, acidic character to the nose and helping counteract the vast maltiness. Don’t get any brett in the nose, but there’s certainly some vague Belgian character to it; it’s not just a heavy-handed American Barleywine with no finesse or variation. Alcohol, while certainly inevitably notable at 16% doesn’t seem to suggest it’s nearly this high. It helps that the peach notes and cognac barrel cover it up/mix with it, while the huge maltiness soaks a lot of it up as well.
The flavor is the best part of the beer, IMHO. Brandy-soaked peaches are perfectly pitted against, rich, wonderfully extracted malts with layers of toffee, vanilla, raisin and light phenolics/acids from the brett. Soft, malty and with ample, tight carbonation, it’s shockingly easy to drink. The cognac flavors carry through to the finish, but never become harsh/astringent, nor does the sweetness ever get out of control. Really f-in good beer and I can’t believe how much I enjoyed it, given my relative indifference to Angel’s Share (though this is quite a bit different than that line).
Jesus. Did not realize this thing was 16%!! Yikes, and to thing I’m almost always turned off by ultra high abv beers. Wasn’t the case here and I even went back for more a few times.
Not a particularly dark beer, with a deep auburn-amber color, modest clarity and a fleeting beige head.
The nose shows off plentiful barrel notes; raisin, grapeskin, plum, oak and a good dose of rich, malty toffee and vanilla, a la Angel’s Share. Peaches are notable, adding an actual dry, fruity, acidic character to the nose and helping counteract the vast maltiness. Don’t get any brett in the nose, but there’s certainly some vague Belgian character to it; it’s not just a heavy-handed American Barleywine with no finesse or variation. Alcohol, while certainly inevitably notable at 16% doesn’t seem to suggest it’s nearly this high. It helps that the peach notes and cognac barrel cover it up/mix with it, while the huge maltiness soaks a lot of it up as well.
The flavor is the best part of the beer, IMHO. Brandy-soaked peaches are perfectly pitted against, rich, wonderfully extracted malts with layers of toffee, vanilla, raisin and light phenolics/acids from the brett. Soft, malty and with ample, tight carbonation, it’s shockingly easy to drink. The cognac flavors carry through to the finish, but never become harsh/astringent, nor does the sweetness ever get out of control. Really f-in good beer and I can’t believe how much I enjoyed it, given my relative indifference to Angel’s Share (though this is quite a bit different than that line).
Tried
from Can
on 17 Feb 2016
at 16:37