Bottle. Cloudy, brown with a very small head. Aroma is a malty with hints of toffee and brown sugar. Taste is more hoppy then I expected.

Barleywine brewed with New Zealand malts, Australian hops and English yeast, and aged on barrels made of French oak… Comes from a 37.5 cl bottle with crown cap. Quite dense and creamy, pale yellowish beige, mousy head lacing in dots over an initially clear, deep copper-red bronze beer, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of ground hazelnuts, walnut liqueur, strong furniture-like oak wood including a whiff of something vanilla-like, bergamot, brown bread, toffee, grapefruit pith, patchouli, dried orange peel, dried fig, cranberries, brandy, burnt sugar, tea leaves. Sweetish onset with a slight umami accent, hints of dried fig, cranberries and persimmon, quite softly carbonated, full and soft, eventually moderately vinous mouthfeel. Dry-caramelly, brown-bready and lightly toasty-bitter maltiness, the sweetness more and more replaced by bitterness towards the end as a firm dose of grapefruit peel- and peppercorn-like hop bitterness sets in, connecting with the toasty side of the malts. Meanwhile a drying oak woodiness adds further dryness to the finish, whilst breathing that lovely vanilla-tinged oak aroma retronasally; lingering caramelly malt sweetness in the end amidst all that tannic and bitter dryness, but a rather wry, whisky-like booziness eventually gets the upper hand. Too much so for my personal liking, this should absolutely be controlled better, but otherwise this is a rich, deep, warming sipper with a very firm dosage of hop bitterness justifying its ‘American style barleywine’ ambitions. Interesting one that merits the benefit of the doubt: had I kept it for some years, I think the alcohol wryness may have softened. Curiosity got the better of me, I guess – again.

Bottle bought from Brewklopedia, consumed at home. Chocolate brown, transparent, with a small film of beige head. Oak chips, molasses, medicinal herbal notes, a bit of peat and some Dettol. Sweet taste full of brown sugar lasts a split second before a dry, herbal, woody, medicinal bitterness sets in. Intense and uncompromising with notes of horehound in the finish. Body is thin for the ABV. Good but not a match for the best barley wines.

Bottle sample at a tasting at Tom L's place. Thanks zvsn. Deep amber. Stale hops, malt, caramel, some fruitiness, alcohol, sweet, a bit umami, boozy, medium-bodied.

Bottle @ DØE, 2016 vintage. Pours dark amber with a small offwhite head, light lacings. Aroma of malt, caramel, wood, vanilla, dried fruit, wine, light alcohol. Flavor is sweet and rather bitter, malty, caramel, bread, wood, vanilla, dried fruit, wine, alcohol. Full body, soft to average carbonation, sweet and lasting bitter finish with light warming alcohol. 160119

Sample@Ølfestival København 2018 - dark amber to brown coloured pour with a beige head. Medium sweet and toasted malty, caramel, cocoa, brown sugar, dried fruity with some hoppy backing, full bodied, wooden accents, pleasing spices into the warming malty finish.