Xenophon's Wine
(has 2 batches)

Bottle that I picked up at Alvinne at the Pre-ZBFMarch 09, consumed 12-05-09 Pours very murky dark reddy brown with an off white head. The nose I found to be a little restrained but there was some damp woody aroma’s, a noticeable but light hop presence, citrus and a touch of spirit. Taste was very citrussy at first and also there was a real hoppy sting to this, quite bitter and whilst there is a real rustic earthy grunt to this beer its the hops that have the biggest impact, alcohol was also ever present. Enjoyable beer but could have been a little bit better, less is more they say and maybe in the hop department just tempering these a little would have produced an even better beer. A7 A3 F7 P4 Ov14 3.5

Bottle. Look: Amber, thick off white head. Smell: Citrusy hops, some candi sugar in the background. Simple but nice. Taste: Dry choclaty taste with some serious bitter hops in the aftertaste. Overall: Nice barley wine that reminds me of Bigfoot.

Bottled. Hazy brown color, short head. Aroma of hops, bit fruity, vinous, malty. Liquorish taste, fruity, malty, bitter. Ok stuff.

Bottle at Alvinne pre Zythos event 09. Am I the only one who got a big waft on diacetyl on the aroma on this beer? Carlo and Urbain say that we should give it 6 months in the bottle and the diacetyl will be re-absorbed, so I will re-rate this in the autumn when my bottles should be ready. Good hops on the finish though, really piney hops on finish but at the moment far too buttery for someone as sensitive to diacetyl as myself. 435313 2.8/5.0. Re-rate. Bottle from the pre Zythos event in 2009 and given 11 months to eat up that diacetyl. Now, no hint of diacetyl at all. Lots of hop and some hot alcohol on aroma. Some juicy raisin, but more sultana actually. It’s almost really good, apart from this bit of cardboard on the flavour. Rest of the beer is pretty good. Lovely big hops. Alcohol isn’t really very present in the mouth. Just this odd type of licking cardboard flavour in the mouth. Decent though.

Bottle. Weak teaish and grassy aroma. Cloudy dark amber colour. Very small creamy tan head. The flavour is quite hoppy, grassy, even getting a bit sour. The hoppiness gets a bit much. Good caramelly finish.

bottle at the Pre-ZBF, pours hazy amber with a thin off white head. Sweet hoppy nose. Sweet malt, honey and hops end with a heavy hop and alcohol burn finish. Can’t wait to age a few of these.

33 cL bottle. Pours hazy deep redish with a light off white head. Solid hoppy and wooden aroma, dense fruity. Dense and dry hoppy flavoured. Mild fruity and dense wooden mild citrusy touch and dense dry hoppy flavoured. Dry frity and hoppy finish. Good balanced and solid flavoured. Mild milky/yogourt touch.