Old Fashioned Barley Wine
Siren Craft Brew in Finchampstead, Berkshire, England 🏴
Barley Wine - Barley Regular|
Score
7.73
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We're big fans of the classic Old Fashioned – a 19th Century cocktail traditionally made by muddling sugar with bitters, then adding Whiskey and a twist of citrus rind. This is our take, with Barley Wine as the base beer and the classic orange zest to serve. It's been in barrels for 12 months, picking up a well-rounded bourbon profile with some vanilla and caramel sweetness. Bitters optional!
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6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
330mL bottle, pours a deep dark mahogany with a very quickly dissipating beige head. Aroma is quite decadent, with lots of bourbon barrel character upfront, followed by a touch of orange zest, toffee, and caramel. Flavour is extremely sweet, with heaps of brown sugar and caramel upfront, accentuated by bourbon barrels that round this out. However, this gets borderline cloying in sweetness with each sip. It's decadent, but can get to be a bit much.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Mar 2019
at 03:59
8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
330 ml bottle into snifter, best before 12/16/2020. Pours fairly crystal clear very deep ruby red/brown color with a small fairly dense light khaki head with solid retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big raisin, plum, cherry, fig, date, peach, orange zest, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, molasses, nuts, chocolate, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Slightly booze in the aromas as it warms. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, orange zest, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge raisin, plum, cherry, fig, date, peach, orange zest, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, molasses, nuts, chocolate, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy bitterness; and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark fruits, cherry, peach, orange zest, pear, apricot, red apple, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, brown bread, coconut, molasses, nuts, chocolate, cocoa, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, orange zest, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a solid malt/bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; and no cloying sweetness after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering bitter/spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety, and slightly slick/sticky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 11%, with minimal barrel booze lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing English barleywine! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, orange zest, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV, with the minimally bitter/dying finish. Perfectly balanced between rich malts, fruity yeast, orange zest, and bourbon barrel presence/integration. Minimally boozy/tannic on barrel. Not overly sweet from lingering dryness. A highly amazing offering, and top tier style example.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Feb 2019
at 04:38
8/10
Bottle as Christmas gift. Deep amber colour with a pale head. Aroma lots of malty caramel hints of whiskey. Taste light to mid sweet. Full body.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Dec 2018
at 22:27
7.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Black beer, head soon disappears. Smells of fruit and bourbon. Taste has a hefty but smooth bourbon taste as well, with so e fruit and caramel sweetness in there, a bit of vanilla and a bit of zesty citrus in there too. Just the right amount of sweetness to not veer into being sickly, this is lovely stuff.
Tried
on 09 Dec 2018
at 22:48
7.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Appearance is mahogany, a very small light brown bubbly head (result of a vigorous pour) which quickly disappears. Aroma- vanilla, bourbon, caramel, toffee, raisin, fruitcake, Christmas cake, treacle sponge. Taste- lots of sweet caramel and toffee, bourbon, boozy dark fruit, blended raisin, biscuity caramel malt, honey hints, more sweetness. Hints of chocolate. Full mouthfeel. On the sweet side, very nice though.
Tried
on 01 Dec 2018
at 11:40
8.6/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle, 330 ml from Hones brew. Shared with JFK10000 and Max. Brown with small beige head. Chocolate, whiskey, quite nutty, caramel, quite sweet, some brown sugar, warming. Nice one especially in aroma, bit too sweet.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 Sep 2018
at 12:47
6.8/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
No head on a very dark brown still body - looks lifeless! Sweet aroma of sweet vanilla & caramel. Medium to full bodied, thick, jammy, cloying & so smooth. Overly sweet tastes of brown sugar, dark berry, dark spirits, plum & dandelion & burdock.
Tried
on 27 Aug 2018
at 16:52
8.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
Tap @ Mig & Ølsnedkeren. Medium head with medium duration. Color is brown. Aroma and taste are rich fruits, wood, caramel, bourbon, vanilla and hops. Lovely.
Tried
from Draft
on 21 Aug 2018
at 14:23
7.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
On tap at Mig og Ølsnedkeren. Pours dark brown. Bourbon, strong caramel, booze, lots of caramel, vanilla, very sweet and very boozy. Good body. Good.
Tried
from Draft
on 14 Aug 2018
at 21:43