Bottle/Fest. A- Pine, fish pond. A- Copper color, clear liquid, off white head. T- Seaweed, pine, spruce. P- Medium body, average texture, average carbonation, bitter finish. O- Pretty poor actually. A lot of bitterness but not aggressive and a weird stale water and seaweed aspect. Definitely a Stone beer.

Fra kveldens site flaske på Mandag i annen (Cardinal) 01.02.16: rødoransje kobber med hvott skum. Saftig bæraroma med tørkede frukter i tillegg. Noe karamellsødme og vinøse toner, men med en urteaktig bitterhet i ettersmaken som jeg ikke synes passer i en barley wine. Må nok prøves igjen for å gi den full rettferdighet.

Shared bottle at Mi2 at Cardinal 01.02.16. 2012 vintage. Cloudy orange. Not much head, Fine aroma of dry orange zest and marmalade. Similar taste, also with dried oranges and Tokayer, And a hint of wood and Yule tide cakes. Mediunm high bitterness in aftertaste.

Shared bottle at Cardinal, Stavanger (2012 release). Pours hazy copper with off-white head. Aroma of caramel, raisins, ethanol, bitter herbs, medicine. Tastes pretty bitter with a little sweetness. Dry mouth feel. Unbalanced and too bitter for a barley wine, not very pleasant.

Bottle 0.65l from local Alko, Helsinki. Enjoyed at home, Oulu. Vintage 2012. Colour is cloudy light brown with small thick slightly brownish head. Aromas and flavours: Fruits, dry fruits, raisins, some alcohol, some distant hints of hops, some sweetness, caramel, pine and strong malts. Pretty good shape! Tasty sipper.

(650ml 2015 bottle from Systembolaget web order) Pours clear medium ruby-orange with a moderate, dense dark cream coloured head and lace. Aroma of brown sugar, toffee, butterscotch, dried mix of raisins, strawberries, currants and dates, a little bit of nuts and toast to the malt. No real alcohol. Palate is malty but only moderately sweet with brown sugar and caramel paired with sweet fruity notes of cooked strawberry and raisin, vanilla, hops lend a slightly citrusy but mostly woody pine flavour, especially towards the finish. A bit of toasted nutty grain in the finish, almost whiskey-like flavours, dry and bitter with hops, light to moderate alcohol heat. Aftertaste is rather astringent. Average mouthfeel for style with soft carbonation. Not extremely rich for a barley wine, with a dry but not aggressively bitter finish. Quite sippable.

Bottle at home. 3 year old. Has a slightly hazy deep reddish orange color with a small ivory head. Lots of hops in the aroma with apricot, ammonia, caramel, oak and alcohol. The flavor has a lot of caramel along with sweet biscuit, grassy hops, harpix, ammonia and dried fruit. Full-bodied, soft mouth feel, and has a medium bitterness. A rich, hoppy and well balance American barley wine. The hops area surprisingly present after three years.

Summer’s setting so it’s time to bust out the barley wines, give em a try, after hauling them up from the southern wastelands of urbanity to the far north where I can try them in peace - where the northern lights shine (well not tonight, it’s clouding and snowing and all) and there are plenty of movies on netflix (well not many actually, the Canadian version seriously sucks). But anyways I got a video game here to play.... maybe. I know the purists will be like "but barley wine’s not supp0s3d to have head, l00z3r!!" but I’m gonna say it, the head’s not so hot but all right. Also a nice dark gld body with, what... carbonation? In a barley wine? Kinda odd, but whatevs, right? The aroma is quite nice for an eleven percenter, smells like a weak amber, appetizing and not cloying at all like other high alcohol monsters. There are hops in there, a bit of caramel, softly spoken but carrying a big stick (unless they’re fibbing aboot the abv, but I doobt it). The flavour is a strong and intelligent caramel that is prominent and forceful but not disgusting. This is one of the most balanced barley wine’s I’ve had. It’s on your mouth but it’s not overbearing, not a pile of fusel madness all over the place, and in fact is quite nice to drink. Medium finish. Kind of a candy flavour over arching to the whole thing but still restrained. You know like the karate masters - they don’t show every move they have, but after awhile you understand that their finesse and experience reveals that they really could kick your ass. This is intelligent, well-defined stuff and kudos to the brewers, they are using their skilllz for good and not evil. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Pours copper with a large head.Nose shows golden syrup, spicy and resinous hops, honey and caramel.Similar flavours: honey, resinous and spicy hops and a massive aggressive bitterness.