11ǀ05 - 2013 Barleywine
Nickel Brook Brewing Co. in Burlington, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦
Collab with: Sawdust City Brewing CompanyBarley Wine - Barley Regular Out of Production
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Score
6.63
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5
750mL bottle, pours a cloudy dark orange with a small beige head. Aroma brings out notes of cloyingly sweet malt, medicinal notes, and cough syrup. Flavour brings out lots of alcohol notes, residual sour notes, and barrels. Something seems off here - I doubt the sour notes are intended. Not very drinkable or enjoyable.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Draft - Oak notes and light caramel with a light touch spice. Clearing copper with a decent beige head. Soured and spice caramel. This is odd and not sure what it’s supposed to taste like.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
(On tap at Bryden’s, TO, Dec 27 2013) Poured a very murky medium brown with a bubbly, lacy whitish head. At first the aroma is a total bourbon barrel bomb, but as the nose becomes accustomed to that I got more sweet toffee malt, mix of tree fruit, light spices, a bit of booze. Flavour was again dominated by bourbon and wood at first. As it warmed and I became accustomed I got a lot more malt and fruit. Quite sweet caramel/brown sugar, very apple-heavy with some spices: reminded me a lot of cold mulled cider really. The sweetness was tempered by a bit of cider-like tang/tart character towards the finish along with a substantial amount of alcohol dry-down. Barrel was always there even if it wasn’t the sole flavour as at first blush. Body medium-full, a little sticky, carb moderate, didn’t hide its ABV. This was not bad, interesting even, but didn’t come together for me. It was either too much barrel or too much sweet cider, and while there was a lot going on it wasn’t a very nuanced sipper.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Decent b-wine, if a little barrel heavy. Lots of bourbon on initial smell plus booze and some sort of spice. Finishes with a good tang and some sweetness. Pours cloudy reddish brown with good head and lacing. As with any barrel aged beer, too much barrel and not a solid backbone leads to a lack of support for a heavy beer. Tap at Arrow and Loon.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
A murky dark amber Barley Wine with a thick frothy lacing mocha head. In aroma, sweet vinous malt with treacle, dark fruits, wood chips, musty character, and faint alcohol. In mouth, sweet treacle malt, with light licorice, alcohol warmth, vinous character, not bad but not excellent. On tap at Arrow and Loon.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Enjoyed at Brothers Beer Bistro. Pours a hazy copper colour with not much head, and no lacing. Beautiful fruity aromas with mild berries (gooseberries), rhubarb and cherries. Not as heavy as expected as it goes down easily. Mild tart on the tongue. Nice different fruity taste from the nose, with dates (and other dark fruits), caramel, butter, apples, light alcohol. Even hints of coffee and mint. Quite a nice collaboration by two brewers I like. Refreshing and easy drinking, with lots of character.