Thanks to Tangorod and zid for multiple bottles of fresh Thomas Hardy Ale. I have had many aged ones over the years.

Bottle number 42379.

It pours a hazy red, small head of foam that shrinks to a ring around the glass.

Smells of piney hops, caramel malt, more caramel malt, toffee, oak and vanilla.

Taste follows, much caramel malt with a cutting pine like bitterness, dark fruits, didn't get that in the smell but most welcome, toffee, oak, raisins, a bit nutty, some of the ample alcohol.

Close to full bodied, carbonation is not quite light, not quite medium, somewhere in between.

Good lord, even fresh, this is a taste to behold, or to put it another way, a taste to relish!

Only time will tell if this new rendition will stand the test of time like the Eldridge Pope beers; for my fellow beer drinkers who have enjoyed the aged Thomas Hardys in the past, I hope so!

Flaska från SB. En flaska från 2016. Smak och doft av torkad frukt, karamell, brunt socker, tobak med fin alkoholvärme. Rund och len, fin sötma och fruktighet, fina aromer i god balans. Blir bara bättre med åren, mycket gott!

The currently available version of this most famous of all English barley wines, a legend apparently resurrected in 2015 by Meantime under commission of the people from Interbrau in Italy. Thanks to Lieven for sharing the bottle at Velootje. Loose and bubbly, off-white, open head eventually settling as a wafer thin ring, on an initially near-clear, warm coppery amber coloured beer, turning misty with sediment. Lovely, enticing, strong, archetypical barleywine bouquet of dried plums soaked in rum, dry orange zest, sweetbread, cognac, caramel candy, honey liqueur, dried banana slices, white pepper, apricot, yellow raisins. Sweet, honeyish and raisiny onset, marmelade hints, fig, baked banana; soft carbo, full and vinous, even a tad glueish mouthfeel. Thick caramelly malt sweetness, with elegantly (pea)nutty and slight bread crust-like edges, leading to a warming, brandy-like finish, warming the chest with alcohol without becoming too wry or bothersome - and meanwhile carrying along the residual honeyish and candied orange peel sweetness as well as a mildly peppery, 'cleanly' earthy yeasty touch in the end. I will never forget the famous Eldrigde Pope version I had many years ago - at that time already approaching two decades of age, it was my first encounter with English style barleywine and its complexity, warmth and nobility made a lasting impression on me. This one has the same basic profile, but somehow it seems a bit less powerful, less complex and less 'aristocratic' than that original version; then again, it would of course be completely unfair to compare a young version of this beer with an old vintage - and on top of that, made by another brewery. So, in all: successful attempt at recreating this legend, not the single most complex barleywine I ever had, but classic in all its aspects - this is the ideal way to get to know the style. Should improve considerably with age, too, though it is at this point impossible to say if it has the potential to reach the beauty and elegance of an old Eldrigde Pope bottle, of course. In any case I am really glad it's back, and hugely enjoyed it.

Thanks to Kraddel / Beerlover_Ben. 330 ml. bottle sampled. 2016 Vintage. Orange amber. Already surprising amount of oxidation, caramel, sugar, toffee, honey, oxidation, little carbonation, sugar, big sweet, almost whisky, raisin, date, sugar, sugar, almost no carbonation. Very tasty barley wine that tastes already greatly oxidized relatively fresh, shows great potential, really liked it.