Old Horizontal

[edit - this beer’s quality has suffered a great deal in recent years - hold on to those older bottles as long as you can] A deep, ruby red color and slight lacing make this look like any old barleywine.....but it most certainly is not! The aroma is mildy alcoholic, but mostly dominated by what I can only describe as ’candied fruit,’ if that makes sense. There is a subtle hop and alcohol presence in the flavor which is enjoyable on these long winter nights (but the alcohol is very well masked). The most dominant aspects of the flavor include a heavy malty sweetness, and a deluge of fruit flavors (black cherries, grapes, raisins, and possibly strawberries), which combine to make this my new favorite barleywine. The fruit and sweetness stick around in the finish for an astounding length of time after you swallow (if your don’t brush your teeth, the flavor could probably stick with you for weeks). Storm King is my favorite Victory beer, but I think this brew will make me call that title into question.

2001 bottle. Consumed fresh. wow! what a beer. tastes like blueberry pie with alcohol in it. Great amounts of barley make this a rich meaty beer. What a great color, the color beats foghorn and bigfoot i think. Deep red/ almost magenta. taste stays with you, and is neither too cloying nor overpowering. yummmmmm. 9/4/10/5/19
2003 bottle. Fresh. Oh ya, been way too long. Amazingly rich flavor of sweet barley, rich fruity alcohol esters. Great english toffee flavor with tons of complexity. Lovely grain-like alcohol/cognac mouthfeel and flavor. I absolutely love this, but then English-style barleywines are my favorite. 9/4/9/5/17
Jan. 2004 bottle 14 months old. Slowly working on trying the different vintages. I look forward to trying this beer, as it has long been one of my favorites. However, the 2004 didn’t really do it for me. Still a good pour, bottle conditioned, nice head and all. The flavor was way too forceful, it seems like they have amped up the hops bitterness in recent years, or perhaps this bottle is still far too young. Whatever the case, the flavors seemed blunt, and overbearing, lots of hops, sticky, strong caramel malt. Aroma of strong alcohol, yellow candied fruits, sweet toffee. Rather uninspiring, but hopefully just too young. Looking forward to the 2002 bottle I have in my cellar. 8/5/8/4/15
Dec 03 2004 bottle Consumed 8/3/2005. Incredible masking of alcohol, which is puzzling, as it seems rather filtered. NO sediment whatsoever left in the bottle, and only a slight haze to the body. Though it still looks a lovely auburn-magenta. Aroma, however, had soily, resinous hops, dry earthy malt, brown bread and light toffee. The aroma was not very intense after only 1 year. Flavor was a bit of a let down as well. It’s even and drinkable, with a good integration of malt and hops, but the malt gets rather boring, the finish is way to quick. Too much filtration on this beer now. Caramel and toffee, with some yellow fruits, bitter hops and low carbonation. It was good, though I think it’s gone down hill lately. 7/4/8/4/15
Dec 2005 bottle consumed on 6/22/07
18 months old and not too bad, I gotta say. Pretty much the definition of the American barleywine and still with quite a bit of bitter, citric, leafy hoppiness. The nose seems rather crudely yeasty, with dirty notes and a dull, bland, vitamin-like note. But the malt is bready and caramel-like, with minimal roasty/toastiness. Fruity hops and caramel dominate the beer. Light alcohol, not too bad for its size.
A real hard, woody, bready feel to the flavor, with low carbonation, light chocolate and mostly tons of hard caramel. Bitter hoppiness, green and leafy tending mostly citric. Still that liquerish finish, not as smooth as it was, with too loose a carbonation and quite decadent. Respectable, and one of the first of its kind, but what’s with that dirty yeast nose?? I dont even know how I’ve calculated my overall score at this point.....

Thanks to austinpowers for this one! It's pretty obvious how this one got its name. Alcohol taste is at the forefront. Very enjoyable when you take your time with it. You won't be pounding these back, kind of the beer version of a Port wine. All in all a great Barley Wine which makes me want to try other ones.